It's a Long Story
by RavenAdain
Summary: Legends tell of a person that will bring peace to the world of Remnant, someone that will end the threat of the creatures of Grimm once and for all. This is not their story. Follow the path of Raven Corvus, a new student at Beacon academy, as he makes friends and enemies and tries to finally come to terms with his past. Re-written.
1. A Chance Encounter

A man with short white hair wearing faded black jeans, leather boots, and a full-length, dark grey leather duster with straps ending at the waist and a slit between the legs walked towards the bar in Junior's club, the aforementioned owner leaning on it with his two bodyguards; twins called Melanie, who wore a white dress, and Miltia Malachite, who wore red. "Hey, you're that guy Raven right?" Junior asked the man.

"I'm just here for a drink" he said, not bothering to make eye contact with Junior, "nothing else."

Junior stood up in front of Raven and towered nearly a foot above him and looked down at him. He crossed his arms. "I've heard quite a bit about you Raven, and I have a proposition for you."

Raven walked past him and sat down at the bar and ordered an unsung hero. "I take it that 'I'm just here for a drink' has a different meaning in this country?"

Junior started leaning on the bar again. "Very funny. I need a new head of security and, from what I've heard, you'd be perfect for the job." Unfazed, Raven downed his drink, being careful not to shatter the glass, mentally scolding himself for not bothering to take off his gauntlets beforehand. Junior was getting visibly irritated by his lack of response. "Hey," he snapped, "I'm talking to you. Now give me an answer or get the hell out of my club."

Raven sighed and ordered another drink. "That's an interesting business strategy" Raven mused, "I'm shocked that you don't have people lining up at the door." Junior's head looked like it was about to pop off of his shoulders after that comment. "Relax Hei, I have no interest in employment right now, I'm just here to forget about the word for a while."

Junior's face began to lose some of its cherry hue and he went back to talking to Melanie and Militia. Raven released the tension that had been building up in his stomach by closing his eyes and let himself be absorbed by the music, only coming back to his senses when his drink came around. "Thank you." he said to the bartender, who nodded and went back to the other patrons. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Junior and a dapper redhead, that Raven recognized immediately as Roman Torchwick, talking about 20 feet away. Between the music and their location Raven couldn't hear a thing that they were talking about so he took a drink instead, the song Red Like Roses started to play and the lights started to turn red. Junior returned for a bar slightly flustered. Raven closed his eyes again.

"Strawberry sunrise, no ice. Oh and one of those little umbrellas." a female voice began slyly before getting a little excited.

Her excitement caught Junior's attention. "Aren't you a little young to be in this club, Blondie?"

She giggled, "Aren't you a little old to have a name like Junior?"

Her comeback set off warnings in his head, he knew that he should stop this before it went too far but at the same time his curiosity, and to a small degree everything he'd downed by then, wanted to see what would happen, so he opened his eyes to watch the spectacle. However, his view was somewhat blocked by an ocean of long golden-blonde hair that flowed loosely and curled at every end. It reminded him of an open fire.

Junior scoffed. "So you know who I am." he said, turning around and no leaning away from the bar. "You got a name sweetheart?"

"Yes Junior I've got several," she said flirtatiously, her finger trailing down his chest, "but instead of sweetheart you can just call me sir." she ended forcefully, squeezing his balls with her right hand.

Junior lurched forward involuntarily. He made a noise that reminded Raven of a bird's mating call, for whatever reason. "Raven, help." he cried out, pain evident on his face. His choice of words took the girl by surprise, causing her grip to relax enough for Junior to get away from her but she took little notice.

"Raven Branwen?" she questioned as she turned to face him, giving him his first proper look at her. Her hair framed her face, taking away from her pale complexion and making her soft lilac eyes the first thing you see. She was about 5'7 in height and wore a tan vest over a yellow low-cut crop top, accentuating her sizable bust. She wore black short shorts under a brown belt with brown knee-high leather platform boots with a grey bandana wrapped around her left leg. She wore fingerless black gloves and had a large yellow bracelet on both wrists.

"It's Corvus actually," Raven said, giving her his full attention, "though you were closer than Junior there would have been."

She looked disappointed upon discovering him but took out her scroll and showed him a picture of a woman resembling her but wearing a red jacket with back hair. "Have you seen this woman?" she asked him, a hint of desperation in her eyes.

Raven heard Junior gathering his men to kick the girl out but Raven was intrigued by her. "Yes, but it was a couple of months ago."

The girl's face lit up and she leaned in closer to him and out her hands on his shoulders, their faces only inches apart. "Tell me everything you know.", she ordered.

"It looks like we have an audience." he mused, paying for his drinks and gesturing to the men that Junior rounded up. "I'll make you a deal, we get out of here and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. How's that sound?"

She smiled. "Deal," she said, "and the name's Yang".

"Get the hell out of my club." Junior demanded. Raven got up from his seat and started to walk out with Yang, who decided to have a bit of fun first.

"Oh Junior I was just playing with you." she said innocently, walking up to him with her hands behind her back, "Don't be so sensitive. Come on, let's kiss and make-up, m'kay?"

Raven was sure that this wouldn't work, but to his unending surprise, Junior took the bait. "Huh?" Junior asked to no one in particular, "Okay." Yang leaned in first with her eyes closed and Junior soon followed suit. A slight wave of jealousy went through Raven despite what he guessed would happen next. When their faces were an inch apart Yang punched him in the face, sending him flying through a glass pillar and into the wall on the other side of the club. Everyone else not on Junior's payroll ran out of the club in panic.

Raven face palmed but he was smiling. _This blonde will be the death of me_ , he thought to himself as he stepped into the fray. There was a total of 20 people for them to knock down including Junior and the twins, bad odds...for all of them. Yang's bracelets turned into a pair of gauntlets when she got into her fighting stance and she flipped into the air as Junior's thugs charged her. She was smiling the whole time.

Yang hit the ground with the force of a lightning bolt, sending goons flying from the shockwave alone. Raven drank in the sight as he punched out a few of them with ease, his own gauntlets only making things easier. In a flash he saw her up in the DJ's booth, beating the tar out of him. "Poor bear-headed bastard" he said to himself as he looked around. Junior was nowhere to be seen, and the twins were looking at him with a sour expression. "Well this should be fun." he muttered to himself as they charged him, Miltia wielding a pair of claws and Melanie had bladed heels. They rushed him in flashes of red and white, claws and heels slashing into empty air as Raven evaded them, a frown starting to form on his face. "I'll be honest" he goaded as he caught Melanie's right foot and Miltia's left arm, "I was expecting a bit more from you two." He headbutted Miltia back a few feet and and punched Melanie into a glass pillar and the wall behind it. Miltia was about to resume her attack but she wilted under the glare of Raven's cold, silver eyes and decided that get out with her sister would be the smarter thing to do.

The sound of shotguns and missiles exploding brought his attention to the battle between Junior and Yang, the latter being clubbed back 20 feet through a glass table. Raven was about to intervene but something caught his eye; she was smiling and her hair almost seemed to be on fire. "Now that is interesting" he said to himself, surprised to find that she could keep surprising him. Yang charged forth, moving between the volley of missiles launched by Junior and she unleashed a flurry of blows on Junior ending by punching through his weapon and sending him skidding to the entrance. She was grinning triumphantly until she saw the lock of hair that Junior had in his hand and she snapped. Her aura shattered everything around her and her hair seemed to burn even brighter just as her eyes turned ruby red. She charged at him and all the colour in the room vanished, save Yang herself. She punched Junior square in the jaw and sent him flying out a window while shattering every other one. She quickly jumped out after, ready to finish him off.

"Ah shit." Raven cursed as he ran out after her. He rushed up the stairs and through the front door, sure that he would find the mangled body of Junior if nothing else.

Instead he was greeted by the sight of Yang conversing with a young girl with black hair tipped with red, her clothes following a similar colour scheme, save for her red cloak. She cocked her head when she saw him, their silver eyes locking together, "Yang, who's this?"


	2. Chapter 2

"Yang, who's this?"

Yang looked over her shoulder and saw Raven. "Oh, that's Raven, Raven this is my little sister Ruby." she said in between them. Neither Raven nor Ruby looked away.

Ruby spoke first. "Yang, why are you hanging out with someone so old?"

Raven raised his right eyebrow, "How old do you think I am?" he asked her, a little offended. He broke eye contact and glanced at Yang, she looked slightly concerned.

"I don't know," Ruby said, clearly flustered, "like 30 or something." Raven's jaw dropped causing Yang to giggle.

"You can't be serious." he deadpanned.

"I don't know!" Ruby pouted, "You didn't even give me a hint!"

"Fine, you were off by 12 years," he relented. "30 years old…" he muttered.

"Sooo, 42?" Yang asked innocently.

"Ha ha." he laughed sarcastically.

In a flash Ruby was right in front of him with her hands clasped together, looking at him with millions of questions in her eyes. She took a deep breath, "OHMYGOSHDOYOUGOTOBEACON?WHAT'SITLIKE?WHAT'SYOURTEAMNAME?WHATWEAPONDOYOUUSE?WHATARETHETEACHERSLIKE!" she took another breath and was about to start again but Raven took off his right gauntlet and put his hand over her mouth.

"It's Ruby, right?" She nodded. "Okay, first off I take it you want to be a huntress." Nod. "And you want to go to Beacon, right?" Nod. He looked to Yang, "Is she always like this?"

Yang shrugged. "Only when she's excited...which is most of the time." she admitted.

"Mmph!" Ruby exclaimed into his palm.

"Alright just promise me, no more questions." She nodded and he took his hand off and took a step back. He deposited his right gauntlet into a pocket on the same side and was about to take off his other one but he hesitated. Yang noticed but didn't say anything. He slowly slid it off and put it in a similar pocket, revealing a robotic arm underneath his coat.

"You have a robotic arm?" Ruby squeelled.

"..." he stood in silence trying to ignore his past.

"How did you get it, where did you get it, how does it feel…" she went on unbidden not taking his silence as a hint. Yang was looking back and forth at the two slightly worried before she voiced her concern.

"Ruby." she scolded loud enough to get her sister's attention but quiet enough not to draw unwanted attention.

"What?" she whined, turning to her sister. Yang gestured up to his face and the grimace that had started to grow on it. "Oh." she realized aloud and started fumbling an apology, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to...to...I'm sorry."

Yang walked towards them and put a hand on their shoulders. "Listen, Ruby didn't mean to bring up bad memories." she tried explained, "She's just not the best with people."

"Yang…" she complained.

"Why are you here Ruby?" Yang asked to change the subject.

"Oh, a store I was in was getting robbed by a guy with orange hair in a white suit and his friends so I tried to stop them..." she started to explained until being cut off by Yang.

"Ruby, that's dangerous, you could have gotten hurt!" she said loudly, not even trying to hide her displeasure.

"I'm fine Yang." she said exasperated before continuing her story. "Anyway, I beat up his friends and chased him up a roof where a huntress came and saved me from this lady that was shooting fire at me and now she wants me to go to this place a couple of blocks away from here."

"Uuugh..." Junior groaned, still on the ground.

"We should probably get out of here." Raven observed after regaining some composure. "And I think you should take us with you Ruby."

"Why?" she asked defensively.

He glanced at Yang. "I think that it would put your sister's mind at ease." Ruby looked at Yang who nodded her agreement. They left Junior alone on the ground as they left, Ruby called an ambulance for him, saying that she found him unconscious on the ground.

"So what were you two doing there anyway?" Ruby asked as they were walking away.

"What do you think we were doing there?" Yang asked with a wink. Raven raised an eyebrow but kept looking forward. Ruby was less composed.

"But, that's, he's, your", she sputtered with a red face, not sure how to react to her sister's question. Raven stifled a laugh and Yang giggled. "Yaaaang you promised you wouldn't do that again!"

"We weren't doing anything Ruby", she explained to her flustered sister, "we just happened to run into each other. Speaking of which", she looked over to Raven, "You still owe me some answers."

"I suppose I do", he admitted, "but I think that can wait until we're alone."

"We're here!" Ruby exclaimed. They were standing in front of a small brick building with a steel door. "...At least I think we are."

"We should at least knock." Yang pointed out. She began walking up to the door but was beaten to it by Ruby.

"Who is it?" asked a stern, feminine voice.

"It's, umm, Ruby Rose." she said nervously, "I was told to come here."

The door opened to reveal a woman with light blonde hair wearing a high-waisted black pencil skirt and a purple cape. "You're late young lady." she chastised. She looked at both Raven and Yang sternly before saying, "And I distinctly told you to come alone."

"I was going to!" she explained passionately, "But then I ran into my sister, and her friend made a really good argument for me to bring them with me and..."

The woman cut her off with a sharp tone, "You two can leave now." she instructed.

"Now wait just a minute lady," Yang cut in with anger growing in her voice, "what makes you think that I'm just going to leave my sister here with you?"

"Nothing you can say will make a difference, Miss Xiao Long." the woman said coldly.

"How do you know my name?" she fumed.

Raven was walked up to the left right side of the door, opposite of Yang, and stared into the woman's emerald eyes. "What if I said a crow asked me to deliver a message?"

His question caught the woman off-guard and she considered his words for a moment. "Fine, you can come in." she conceded as she ushered them in. "Follow me." she instructed as she lead them down several flights of stairs.

"What did you mean by 'an old crow' " Yang asked him.

"I'll let you know another time." he answered.

"So you keep saying." she accused.

"Quiet." the woman ordered.

"Soon." he promised Yang while looking into her lilac eyes.

They walked in silence for a short while before they stopped at a closed wooden door. "You." she pointed at Ruby, "Come with me, and you two wait out here."

"Now wait just a minute..." Yang started to protest before being cut off again.

"She'll be fine Yang." Raven defused, "She just wants to talk to her in private, something I'm sure that you can relate to." He nodded to the woman and she took Ruby into the room, closing the door behind her. "Now," he said as he leaned his right shoulder against the wall, "what did you want to know first?"

She crossed her arms and leaned her left shoulder on the wall, facing him. "Where did you see her?" she asked.

"It was about 15 months ago by Higanbana, a town on Anima, I was tracking a Grimm in the woods there for a farmer when I was set upon by a group of bandits. I took a few of them down before she showed up and ordered the rest to back off." he explained, hiding a lie in honesty, "I was lucky that she showed up when she did, the rest of them were no slouches and my aura was gone by then."

"What do you mean 'ordered'" she asked him, her eyes starting to gain a red hue.

"From what I gathered from that encounter, she holds a pretty straightforward point of view. The weak die. The strong live. Hence why she was the leader of that clan."

Yang was silent after his explanation. "That's, not what I was expecting to hear..." she said after a while, "How do I know you're not lying?"

Raven looked at her thoughtfully with a hint of a smile. "I have nothing to gain from it, and if I was don't you think I could have done a bit better than that?"

She looked at him inquisitively for a short while before accepting the truth in his words. She looked down, deep in thought. "What about you then" she asked at last.

He looked down and and saw her looking at him curiously. "What do you mean" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean." she said while looking at him like a piece of art, "Where are you from, why are you travelling alone?"

"Should've seen that coming." he said under his breath. "I'm from Atlas originally."

"Atlas? Then what are you doing here?" she questioned.

He sighed. "Let's just say that people like me aren't exactly treated fairly over there."

"You mean you're a..." The door opened between them before she could finish and Ruby walked out.

"She wants to see you." she said to him with excitement bursting out of her.

He nodded. "Looks like time's up, I'll be seeing you around Yang" he said before walking through the door and closing it behind him. The room was filled with only a table and two chairs, reminding him of an interrogation room. A man with tousled silver hair, brown eyes with glass spectacles balanced slightly on his cheeks sat on the opposite side of the table with the woman behind him.

"Take a seat" he said calmly. Raven complied and sat with his back a few inches away from the back of the chair. "Now what did our old crow want you to tell us?" he asked with a studious expression.

"Amber was attacked" he answered.

The man's eyes widened and he leaned into the table. "Tell me everything you know."


	3. A New Life

Raven walked around on an airship headed for Beacon Academy looking in vain for a spot not occupied by people. Everyone on board was talking excited with a group of their friends, all of them eager to take the next step to becoming huntsmen and huntresses. As he made his way around he heard snippets of conversations. "...believe that we're actually going…"

"...top of class!"

"...the teachers aren't too intense…"

He finally managed to find an open space by a window and he thought back to the event leading up to his enrollment.

* * *

"Are you absolutely sure that she is alive?" the man asked him.

"She was still breathing when I left, but I'm not sure if anything happened between then and now" Raven explained as the woman, now known to him as Glynda, circled them with her arms crossed. "If everything went well then they're only two days out."

"And why should we believe anything you have to say, for all we know you could've been the one to have attacked her." she accused with her riding crop extended in her hand.

 _I'd have to be one hell of a detective for that to play out_ , he mused without portraying any emotion.

"That's enough Glynda." the man said with steel entering his voice, "He's done nothing to warrant our distrust." He sat back into his chair, studying Raven intently. "You seem to have a vested interest in some of our new students." he observed.

" 'Your' new students?" Raven questioned, "Ruby seems a little young for a combat school like Beacon, don't you think _Headmaster_."

"So you know who I am?" the man asked.

Raven shrugged. "By reputation and Qrow, though to be honest he could have at least told me what you looked like before sending me off." he said dispassionately. But then he thought of something, "I have a request."

"By all means" the man said, "let's hear it." Glynda gave him a look of confusion but he smiled through it.

* * *

Raven spotted a familiar red cloak flitting through the crowd. _Please don't spot me_ , he thought to himself as she went from group to group. They were about halfway through an already short trip when someone tapped his right shoulder.

"Whatcha looking at?" Yang asked him looking with her right hand over her eyes where his face was facing.

"Oh you know," he said as he watched Ruby trying to get into anyones circle, "just an awkward 15 year-old not making friends." He looked down at Yang with a grin beginning to form. "I guess you weren't expecting to see me again."

She matched his gaze and said, "I wouldn't say that, I just wasn't expecting to see you again so soon." She finally saw her sister on the other side of the ship and she ran and gave her a hug without a second thought.

"Family first I guess" he said to himself as he looked around again. Then a hologram was projected beside him broadcasting the news. A mugshot of Roman Torchwick covered the screen. "The robbery was led by nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities." said a young male voice. "If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."

The mugshot changed to show a woman with shoulder-length white hair and hazel eyes. Beside her was a photo of faunus protesters holding signs saying "WE ARE NOT ANIMALS!" followed by the an image of a growling red wolf's head with three scratch marks, the logo of the terrorist organization known as the White Fang. "Thank you, Cyril." she said, "In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted…"

The broadcast was cut off by a hologram of Glynda Goodwitch and he released the fists he didn't know he was clenching. "Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch." she said, "You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

"Ugh..." a blond guy groaned at the end of the ship. He was hunched over and holding his stomach. Raven turned around and looked out the window in front of him, trying to block out the gagging coming from the guy. It was working marginally well until he heard the telltale wet splatter of vomit hitting the floor. He turned around, worried about how close the sound was to find a growing pile of it underneath the blond. He also spied a few drops on Yang's left boot. He brought his right hand to his face to mask the scent, thankful he left his gauntlets in their respective pockets.

"Oh, Yang, gross!" Ruby shouted in disgust, "You have puke on your shoe!"

"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!" Yang repeated quickly as she put her foot as far away from herself as she could.

"Get-Get away! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me! Get away from me!" Ruby panicked.

Raven reached into his jacket with right hand, trying to ignore the smell, ripped a piece off the back of his shirt and stepped over the spreading pool of vomit towards them. "Here" he said to Yang, tossing the cloth to her.

"Oh my god, thank you!" she said graciously as she cleaned her boot.

Ruby looked at him awkwardly. "I'm sorry about what I said last time." she said meekly pushing her index fingers against each other nervously.

He sighed. "Don't worry about it, there's no way you could've known." he said calmly. Yang shot up and handed him the used cloth, which he immediately tossed into the wastebasket beside him.

"So, that was a thing." she said. The airship landed and the doors opened, letting them out of the airship with the blond leading the charge, right to a garbage can. "I guess flying isn't for everyone." she said as they saw him empty his guts.

"Well aside from that, the view here isn't too bad." Raven said trying to bring attention away from the poor guy.

"Wow..." the sisters said in unison once they saw the academy. Raven turned around and got a look at the wonder and amazement in their eyes, and was at a loss for words. A couple of students walked past them and Ruby noticed all of there weapons.

"Ohmygosh!" Ruby squealed, "That kid's got a collapsible staff! And she's got a fire sword!" She was going to go in for some closer looks but a guy with a silver cloak and white hair walked through her path and she bumped into him falling onto her backside. "Oof." she breathed.

The guy turned around and they got a better look at him. He had a black streak through his white hair and had hazel eyes. He also had white wolf ears protruding through his hair. "I'm sorry," he apologized as he reached his hand down to her, "I didn't see you th- Ruby?" She grabbed his hand and he lifted her to her feet.

"How do you know who I am?" she asked him defensively.

"We wet 4 years ago and only for one night," he said calmly, "I'm not surprised if you don't recognize me but my name is Edward Silver-Schnee"

Raven raised an eyebrow at Edward's doubled last name but Yang froze when she heard it, and Raven noticed. "What's wrong" he whispered to her when he got beside her.

"Later..." she whispered back. She perked herself up and put her hands on Ruby's shoulders. "See sis, making friends isn't that hard."

Ruby looked up at her. "But, why would I need friends when I have you?"

"Ouch." Edward and Raven said in unison.

"Sorry" she said weakly.

"Well…" Yang started as a group of people approached them quickly, "Actually, myfriendsareheregottagocatchup'Kay,seeya,bye!" she finished lightning fast, taking off with the new group. Ruby was left spinning by Yang's exit and fell into a luggage trolley that had somehow snuck up on the group, sending suitcases flying.

"What are you doing!?" a girl dressed primarily in white chided. Her outfit was remarkably similar to Ruby's except she wore a white bolero instead of a cloak, and had her hair in an off-center ponytail. All-in-all she seemed to be the antithesis to Ruby.

 _Oh great_ , Raven thought angrily, _what the hell is the Schnee heiress doing here?_

Ruby got up and dusted herself off. "Uh, Sorry" she managed to squeak out, her cheeks red with embarrassment.

Unfortunately, Weiss wasn't very receptive to Ruby's apology. "Sorry?! Do you have any idea of the damage you could have caused!" she demanded.

Edward and Raven were watching the scene unfold in front of them. Raven was quickly growing tired of the girl's attitude but Edward was getting visibly unsettled and kept looking back and forth between the two. "Easy there friend." Raven said to him in an effort to calm him down, "They aren't at each other's throats yet."

Ruby picked up a case but it was quickly snatched away by the other girl who opened it to reveal vials of powdered Dust. "This is Dust," she instructed obtusely, "mined and purified from the Schnee quarry!"

Edward was almost shaking at that point but Raven couldn't figure out why he was so agitated. Sure he thought of Ruby as a friend and based on their last names he was probably somehow related to Weiss, unless… "Oh, shit" he cursed under his breath.

Ruby was still looking at the girl somewhat frightened by her tone. However, she took her silence as a sign of ignorance. "What are you, brain-dead?" she ridiculed.

"That's enough" Raven instructed, with a scheme in mind and looking visibly annoyed.

She either didn't hear him or didn't care as she droned on, " **Dust**! Fire, water, lightning, energy!" Dust started to fill the air as she swung the vial with every word and Edward took a small step back. Ruby was struggling to suppress a sneeze but the girl was far from finished. "Are you even listening to me? Is any of this sinking in? What do you..."

She was cut off by Raven who was beside them now and had grabbed her arm with his left hand. "I said, that's enough." he said with a tone cold enough to send shivers down the girl's spine.

'AHHCHOO!" Ruby sneezed, igniting the Dust in the air around the three of them in fire, ice and lightning. Ruby appeared to be untouched but the other two were covered in soot from the explosion. "I'm so, so sorry!" she apologized as sincerely as she could.

Raven wiped his face with his right hand and took a deep breath. "I'm done." was all he said before walking towards the academy. He could vaguely hear the girl unload on Ruby but he was actively trying to ignore it. He extended his aura outward around his entire body to get all of the soot off. _Haven't even been here 10 minutes and I've already exploded_ , he thought to himself, _of all the things that could happen, I exploded._ He shook his head. _What have I gotten myself into?_


	4. Chapter 4

Raven walked into what looked like an auditorium and found himself surrounded by other students. He rolled his eyes and walked in towards the center of the group and stood there with his hands interconnected behind his head as more and more students filled the room.

"Ruby! Over here!" Yang shouted towards her sister. "I saved you a spot!" She sounded very close to him. He brought down his right arm and saw Yang standing right beside him.

"I walked up right beside you without noticing didn't I?" he asked her.

She had a smile radiating from her face. "Yeah" she said, "what's gotten you so distracted?" Ruby stood behind him when she got to them. "Hey sis, how's your first day going?" Yang asked her.

"You mean since you ditched me and I exploded?" Ruby huffed.

"Yikes, meltdown already?" Yang asked giddily. Raven snorted.

"No" Ruby explained, "I _literally_ exploded a hole in front of the school! And there was some fire, and I think some ice...?"

Yang cocked her head to the left. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"No, she blew up a cloud of Dust." Raven explained, shaking off some more soot from his jacket without turning around.

"Are you mad at me?" Ruby asked into his back nervously.

"Why would he be mad at you?" Yang asked her, looking back and forth between the two of them.

He looked over to her. "I was in the cloud." was all he said. She had to put her hands over her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

"You!" a snarky voice accused.

Ruby jumped into Yang's arms. "Oh God it's happening again!" she cried.

The girl walked right past her and jabbed a finger into Raven's back. "How dare you lay a hand on me, do you have any idea who I am?" she demanded. He didn't move a muscle, which really pissed her off. "Are you even listening?"

"Trying not to." he said.

She was speechless, so she directed her anger towards a new target, Ruby. "And you are lucky you didn't blow us off the cliff."

"It was-" she got out of Yang's arms, "It was an accident!" she tried to explain again, exasperated. The girl held up a pamphlet in front of her face. "What's this?"

"The Schnee Dust Company," she said read off the pamphlet, "is not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company product. Although not mandatory, the Schnee Family highly encourages their customers to read and familiarize themselves with this easy to follow guide to Dust applications and practices in the field." Raven wished he had ear plugs. Ruby looked at her confused. She sighed. "You really want to make things up to me?" she asked.

"Absolutely." Ruby answered without hesitation.

"Good." she said. She handed the pamphlet to Ruby. "Read this, and never speak to me again."

Yang injected herself into their conversation when she saw Ruby start to fall. "Look, uh," she started, "maybe you just got off on the wrong foot. Why don't you start over and go from there, m'kay?"

"That's a great idea Yang!" Ruby exclaimed. She cleared her throat and stuck out her hand, "Hello, Weiss, I'm Ruby. Wanna hang out sometime? We can go shopping for school supplies." she suggested.

"Yeah!" Weiss said enthusiastically, "And we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!" she finished referring to the guy that was hugging the garbage when he left the airship.

""Really?" Ruby asked excitedly.

"No" she answered coldly, walking away from them.

Raven saw the headmaster, Ozpin, walk onto the stage with Glynda following him. He tapped the mic to get everyone's attention. "I'll...keep this brief", he said almost absently "You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." He left the stage without another word.

Glynda stepped up to the mic in his absence. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight" she instructed, "Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." she left the stage, walking quickly to catch up to Ozpin.

Raven looked up at the sky and guessed it was about 3 pm, give or take. He wasn't overly keen on the idea of everyone sleeping in the same room but it was far from unreasonable, assuming said room was big enough. "I'll catch up with you guys later." he said to Yang and Ruby as he started to walk off. But then he remembered his idea. He turned around and looked at them, noticing that Edward had joined them and them the blond who threw up was attempting to hit on Weiss. "That is," he said loud enough to get their attention, "unless any of you would like to have a quick spar?"

"I'll take you up on that." Weiss said sharply. She was grinning ear to ear, probably thinking that she would teach this disrespectful lout a lesson. She took out her rapier. "This is Myrtenaster, and we're going to teach you a lesson about respect." she gloated.

"A little premature, but alright" Raven said peacefully. He pointed to the stage, "We'll spar there." He started walking to the left side of the stage and he saw her walking to the right with her weapon already drawn. _Wow_ , he thought, _she really doesn't like me_.

They both stood at either end of the stage, "Alright, we go until either someone gives up or their aura disappears" he instructed. She rolled her eyes. "Hey, Yang!" he shouted.

"What?" she shouted back.

"You decide when the match starts!" he explained. He put his hands into his pockets and he felt his gauntlet compress comfortably onto his right forearm and assumed that the same was true for his left. He pulled them out and left them by his sides.

Yang jumped up on the stage between them. She looked to Raven, "Ready?" she asked. He nodded. She looked to Weiss, "Ready?"

"Yes." she answered.

"Alright!" Yang exclaimed, she jumped off the stage, "FIGHT!"

Weiss started by swinging her sword slightly with her left hand and a snowflake-style glyph appeared on the end of her rapier. And his right foot felt really cold. He looked down and saw that it was frozen to the boards he was standing on. He looked up and she was lunging at his throat. He dodged her thrust last-second by turning his upper body to his right and grabbed her wrist with his left hand. His eyes flashed blood-red as he pulled her forward and struck her jaw with his right fist, bringing her to her knees. She was shocked, it was evident on her face, until Raven's left knee connected with it and she was left sprawled on her back, her aura dissipating in a white shock.

Raven squatted down to check if she was alive or to see if he would need to go into hiding. She was breathing heavily and had her eyes fixed on him in an icy glare, but she couldn't speak. He spoke softly enough for only her to hear, "Fix your attitude."

She still couldn't utter a word, but her glare didn't warm at all, instead it took the form of a singular question and a simple statement, "Why do this?" and "Fuck you."

"That's simple" he explained, "I just wanted to send a message to everyone, the fact that you're your father's daughter was just icing on the cake." She still didn't quite get it, and to be honest he didn't really care. He stood and twisted his leg, the ice around his boot shattering without much effort.

He walked off of the stage and headed deeper into the school to find the ballroom. The students in his path quickly made room for him to pass through. He shook his head. _I wonder how long this'll last_ , he thought to himself.

He started walking the halls with his hands in his jeans pockets, his gauntlets put away. _I wonder where the ballroom is_ , he thought absently as he wandered. He heard angry footsteps coming up behind him. "Here we go..." he said to himself, fully expecting to see Edward. He turned around and saw Yang stomping up to him with red eyes.

"What is your problem?" she demanded.

"Does it really matter?" he asked back. He had a feeling he knew where this was going but he hoped he was wrong.

She got right up to him and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Of course it matters!" she exclaimed, "You can't just beat people senseless and walk away!"

He sighed and his right temple started to itch. "I think you're forgetting the part where I crouched down and talked to her." he pointed out.

"About that," she said as she started to cool off, "What did you say to her?"

He shrugged. "Nothing that she'll take to heart." he said, trying to sidestep her question.

"And what would that be?" she asked with her arms crossed, not ready to give up.

"Misguided revenge with a purpose." he explained vaguely.

"And what would that purpose be?" She asked curiously. He didn't answer, instead choosing to turn around and start walking away, but she was having none of it. She grabbed his left arm to throw him into the wall but found herself there instead with her arms above her head and an arm pushing against her throat.

"To be left alone." he seethed. He had his anger visible in his now red eyes through which he saw the gears start to turn in the blonde's eyes.

She managed to tilt her head slightly to the side. "Why do you want to be left alone?" she asked, using her aura to push his arm far enough away for her to breathe and speak.

"I'm a faunus from Atlas," he said, "Do I need more of an explanation?" He looked at her face and saw a question forming on her lips. _Here we go_ , he thought. He saw what he was doing and his eyes turned back to their natural silver as he released Yang and took a few steps back.

"But you're not in Atlas anymore, why do you still want to be alone?" she asked quietly while rubbing her neck.

"If we're going to discuss my history then can we at least go somewhere more private?"

"Yeah, the ballroom should be empty for another hour or two." Yang surmised. They started walking.

 _Why the Hell am I doing this_ , was the only thought that was on his mind.


	5. Nightmares of the Past

**A/N: Chapter contains the reason for Raven's prejudice. Read at your own discretion.**

* * *

"So what did you want to know?" Raven asked Yang when they got to the ballroom.

"How did you get your arm?" she asked.

"The town I was born in had an industrial forge that supplied some of the parts for the Atlesian knights. They also had a 8'x8' hydraulic press that they would crush outdated models in." He squeezed his metal arm under his duster longingly. He made direct eye contact with Yang. "Certain events caused me to get caught in it, it doesn't take too much imagination to figure out what happened next."

Yang had a hand over her mouth. "Oh my God." she whispered. "That's terrible." She was quiet for a little while until she realized what he did. "You didn't say how you got it." she pointed out.

"Fair enough." he replied. "Have you ever heard of someone named James Ironwood?" She shook her head. "He's the headmaster of Atlas academy and a general in the Atlesian military. He saw me trapped and took pity on me."

"OK, but why was someone like him even there? It doesn't seem like..." she thought aloud but was cut off by Raven.

"He wasn't a general at that time and was being led through on a routine inspection, he happened to find me there and took pity on me as I was stuck there, barely alive." he explained concisely.

They stood there for a little while in silence, Yang ruminating on what Raven both did and didn't tell her and Raven looking for the things he hid up here the day before. He decided to check on the next level. "What kind of faunus are you?" she asked him.

"What, not even gonna take a guess?" he asked with a mischievous glimmer in his eye.

She looked at him thoughtfully, trying to find any discernible trait or feature on his body that would give her a hint. "Hmm..." she pondered aloud finding enjoyment in his game, "Take off your jacket."

He raised an eyebrow at her request. "Not even gonna let me buy you dinner first?"

She winked at him, "There'll be plenty of time for that later, now take it off." she instructed.

He took it off and draped it over his right arm, revealing a large pair of black wings. "My parents weren't exactly creative where my name was involved."

"So you're name is Raven Raven?" she giggled.

"'Raven' used to refer to my hair colour." he argued.

She looked up at his white hair. "So you dye your hair white?" she surmised.

"Not exactly." he corrected, "It's a more or less a permanent part of my semblance."

She cocked her head, "What do you mean?"

"It'd make more sense if I just show you." he said. He put his coat on the ground as he spied Ruby leading a bunch of other students down the hall towards them. _Well shit_ , he thought. "Punch me." he instructed. "Hard."

"OK" she said casually. She punched him in the center of the chest, pushing him back about 7 feet.

He was smiling after her punch and he saw Ruby and the other students start to fill the room. "Looks like we have an audience." he said quietly enough for only Yang to hear. Then he activated his semblance: his eyes turned red, his wings turned white and they began to glow with white flames.

Ruby flashed in between him and Yang in a flutter of rose petals. "Can you just stop fighting people today!" she demanded.

 _Well, back to business I guess_ , he thought. "That depends, can one of you toss me my coat?" Yang picked it up and tossed it to him. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me." he said as he took to the air with a beat of his wings, landing on the next level. His eyes went back to their natural silver colour and his wings to black. He threw on his duster, being careful not to overly irritate his wings and he began looking for his misplaced things.

* * *

-2 hours later-

"Fucking finally." he said as he found the suitcase he bought a few days ago. He reached into it and pulled out the scroll he bought along with all of his new things. _I should probably keep this with me_ , he thought. He turned it on and checked the time, it was 9:47. He took off his boots and jeans, making sure to take off his gun belt, to put on a pair of black sleeping pants then he grabbed a small knife from one of his boots to cut off his shirt. He found a sleeping bag close to him and he tried to get some sleep. He closed his eyes and drifted away.

* * *

" _Let go of me!" a much younger Raven screamed at the top of his lungs. He was being carried through town by a mob of humans with two of them holding onto each of his squirming appendages._

" _Not a chance monster." the leader spat back at him. He took a large swig of something and punched Raven in the stomach, stopping his squirming and making him gasp for breath. "OPEN IT UP!" the man shouted at the large double-doors of the industrial forge. People began to crowd the streets and watch what was happening. All of them were cheering._

 _The doors opened and they slammed him against the ground creating black spots in his vision. "GET THE CHAINS!" the leader shouted as Raven felt himself getting wrapped in the unforgiving steel links. He tried to move his body but couldn't budge an inch. The mob dragged him across the ground and against the closed walls of the massive hydraulic press. He saw the body of his father, a lean man with black hair, wings, and silver eyes, leaning in a similar position as Raven but he had blood leaking out of his mouth. A little further away his mother, a human woman with white hair and red eyes, was barely conscious or clothed on all fours covered in white fluid. Raven started to cry._

" _Shut up boy!" the leader shouted, punctuating it with a backhand to Raven's face._

" _Leave him alone Braun," Raven's father said feebly as he laid feebly in his bonds, "he doesn't know anything."_

" _Oh really? Then why have I seen you all at those White Fang rallies, hmm?" the leader said as he walked up to the half dead faunus, only to punt his boot into his chest._

" _Now tell me boy, WHERE ARE THE REST OF YOU WHITE FANG BASTARDS HIDING?" he demanded angrily to a crying Raven. "I KNOW YOU KNOW WHERE THEY ARE YOU ANIMAL, I'VE SEEN YOU LISTENING WHILE THAT LEADER OF THEIRS TALKED TO YOUR PARENTS NOW TELL ME WHERE THE FUCK THEY'RE HIDING!"_

" _I don't know!" Raven said between bouts of sobbing. He thought that everyone in the town was his friends, why were they being so mean to them?_

" _Fuck it." the man said to himself. "OPEN IT UP!" he shouted. The walls of the press slowly started to open up and a bunch of people came out of nowhere to surround them. "Throw the bastard and his whore of a wife in the middle." the leader ordered as Raven's powerless parents were carried and unceremoniously dropped them. "I'll make an example of the boy." he said as he took out a big hunting knife. He freed Raven's left arm from the chains and cut a line down it from shoulder to wrist, all while Raven thrashed in pain and fear. "CLOSE IT!" he shouted as he forced Raven to watch as his dying parents were crushed by the unforgiving walls of the press. At the last moment his arm was pushed in and he let out a blood curdling scream as his arm and family was mercilessly crushed, blood oozing through his skin, bones slowly starting to shatter and turn into paste as his hair turned a stark white…_

* * *

"Wake up..." a voice called out to him, it sounded far away. "Wake up!" it called again, getting closer. It sounded familiar to him, like something from a memory he couldn't quite grasp. "Dammit Raven, WAKE UP!"

He awoke with a start and found himself covered in sweat and curled into the fetal position with Yang kneeling over him. She was wearing nothing but an orange tank top, black boy shorts and a worried expression. "Are you okay?" she asked him carefully. He gave her a confused look. "You were screaming." she explained.

He sat up and looked around. They were alone. "I take it everyone else is gone." he guessed.

She shook her head. "Everyone else is below us trying to get back to sleep. It's only 3 am, Raven."

"Then why are you up here?" he asked her more sharply than he meant to.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked him. He blinked twice in shock and started to make a shockingly long list of reasons in his head. "Hey," she said to get his attention back, "we're friends aren't we?" He stared at her, it had been a long time since anyone had claimed him as a friend and to be fair, it was his fault most of the time. "So please, tell me what's wrong."

He sighed. "You wanna go for a walk?"

* * *

-4:21 AM-

A cool breeze flowed through the courtyard in the early hours of the morning. Raven and Yang walked through the main gate together, still in their pajamas but Yang wrapped comfortably in Raven's coat while he left his upper body exposed to the night. He looked up and saw that the moon was full. "Aren't you cold?" Yang finally asked him. He didn't hear her, he was staring at the moon with longing shining off his eyes. "Raven?"

Her voice snapped him out of his trance and he looked at her with a sad smile. "Sorry," he apologized, "what did you say?"

"Aren't you cold?" she asked again, tightening her grip in his coat as another breeze swept through the area.

He chuckled at her question, "You do remember that I was raised in Atlas, right?"

"Then why do you wear a coat all of the time?" she countered with honest curiosity.

"It's comfortable, and it gives me a place to hide my wings and put my Talons." he answered simply. "Yes the names are deliberate."

"What?" she asked quickly.

"It's a pu..." he said before getting cut-off.

"I meant, how is it comfortable to wear a leather coat as heavy as this _everywhere_?" she corrected. They had walked up to a wooden bench in the middle of the courtyard and another gust of wind sapped the warmth from her body despite his coat around her. "How does the wind even get through this thing?" she complained.

He laughed softly at her plight and he wrapped his right wing around her, pulling her closer to his body. "There are slits in the back for my wings, and the leather duster was a bit of a tradition in my family."

She nestled into his side and happily took some of his body heat. She felt his pulse slow down to a normal level, so she looked up at him. He was already looking down at her with a surprised look. "What's the matter Raven?" she asked coyly.

"I haven't felt this at peace in a long time." he said happily pulling her closer, "It's nice."

She nestled back into him. "So," she asked quietly, "is this going to be a thing?"

-4 hours later-

Raven sat on a bench in the locker room watching a guy with black hair wearing a dark-green, long-sleeved tailcoat being hounded by a short girl, with short orange hair, with seemingly limitless energy. "I know!" she exclaimed, "We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal!" she gasped dramatically, "A secret signal so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?"

 _How can one person have that much energy_ , he thought as she zoomed to both sides of the poor guy.

He reached into his locker and grabbed a pair of green machine pistols with blades facing outward parallel to the weapons grips. "Nora?" the guy said at last. Raven recognized his accent from people he'd heard in Mistral, but he was the last person to judge someone's background.

"Yes Ren?"

Ren somehow deposited his weapons into his sleeves. "I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." Raven agreed with him.

She stopped to think about what he said for a moment before speaking again with fervor, "That's why it's **perfect**! No one will suspect we're working together!"

 _She's certainly a glass half-full person_ , he thought.

Ren shut his locker and smiled at her, "Come on Nora, let's go."

He started to walk out of of the room and into the hallway with Nora skipping behind him with her hands clasped behind her back giggling, "Not 'together-together…' "

They moved past in between where Raven sat and where Ruby and Yang as they got ready. Ruby spoke first, "Wonder what those two are so worked up about?"

Raven shook his head with a smile starting to form on his face, "The same reason you look so confident today." He saw Edward start to walk towards him with angry steps. He looked the same as he did the day before except he saw an arming sword sheathed on his left hip and something hanging horizontally behind his back. It looked almost like…

"So, what? You're playing nice now? After what you did yesterday? Why?" he demanded with his left hand resting on his sword's pommel. Raven should have seen this coming but in all honesty, he had nearly forgotten about the silver cloaked faunus before him.

"Something about blowing up can really put a damper on your day, don't you think?." he half-truthed but Edward didn't look convinced but stormed off anyways. Raven shook his head absently, _He doesn't think very much of me_ , he thought, _I wonder what his story is._

Meanwhile Yang and Ruby were deep in conversation, "...first of all: What does meeting new people have to do with fighting? And secondly: I don't need people to help me grow up! I drink milk!" Raven snorted at her outburst, something that didn't go unnoticed by the young the girl in question. "What? It's not like you need any friends."

Yang turned around and stood beside her sister, eager to hear his response. "For the most part." he admitted, "But there are always exceptions." he told Ruby with a wink at Yang, who smiled back.

The blond who couldn't walked past them holding a map and looking lost. "Ridiculous!" he exclaimed as he lamented his poor luck, "There's no way I put my gear in locker 636 yesterday! I would've remembered having to count that high! Why does this have to happen today!?" He tried looking at his map sideways to see if it would help...it didn't.

"Who is that?" Raven asked the sisters.

"Oh, that's Jaune." Ruby told him, "He's a nice guy." They watched Jaune pass Weiss and a tall redhead who wore her hair in a waist-length ponytail and wore strapless, light-brown top split, an A-line miniskirt and bronze greaves and cuisses from her mid-thigh down to overtop her high-heeled boots.

"So, Pyrrha, have you given any thought to whose team you'd like to be on?" Weiss asserted. "I'm sure everyone must be eager to unite with such a strong, well-known individual such as yourself."

"Hmm…" the girl, Pyrrha, pondered, "I'm not quite sure. I was planning on letting the chips fall where they may."

"Well…" Weiss said firmly, "I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together."

"Well, that sounds grand!" Pyrrha said with a hand on her hip.

"Great!" Weiss exclaimed. The group could see the gears grinding away in her head as they watched.

"What's she thinking about?" Ruby whispered. They started to mutter amongst themselves until they saw Jaune walk up behind Weiss.

"This'll be good." Raven said to no one in particular. For whatever reason he wished he had a bag of popcorn.

"You know what else is great?" he said trying, and failing, to be suave, "Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you."

Weiss audibly groaned at his interruption. "You again?"

Pyrrha quickly moved to get into his line of sight, something that didn't go unnoticed by the group watching them. "Nice to meet you, Jaune!" she greeted happily.

Unfortunately for her, Jaune was focused on only one person. "Yeah, yeah." he said as he pushed Pyrrha aside to get closer to his target, "So, Weiss, couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day."

Weiss marvelled at his utter lack of understanding of the term sarcasm. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" she complained.

He clearly took her complaint the wrong way when he said, "Don't worry! No need to be embarrassed! So, been hearing rumors about teams! I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?"

Pyrrha, much to Weiss' relief, moved to get his attention. "Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so-" she started to explain before getting cut-off by him.

"You don't say." he interrupted as he advanced on his new target. "Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team."

Weiss physically separated and got in-between the two. "Jaune, is it?" she asked while facing him, "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?"

"Not in the slightest, snow angel." he said, completely focused on her.

" _This_ " she emphasized, "is Pyrrha."

"Hello again!" she greeted, again, with a quick wave.

Weiss, completely ignoring her, droned on, "Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it." he answered, clearly unconcerned with anything about Pyrrha.

Weiss scoffed at his ignorance. "She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row!" she exclaimed angrily, "A new record!"

"The what?"

Weiss was fuming at this point, and she started flailing her arms rapidly as she made her last point, forcing both Jaune and Pyrrha to take a step back, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

He gasped dramatically, and he pointed at her. "That's you?!" he asked excitedly, "But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters!"

"Wow." Yang said involuntarily at what it took for her to get any kind of recognition from Jaune.

She looked at the floor shyly. "Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you." she said, punctuating her answer with a small frown.

Weiss stood looking at Jaune with her arms crossed, not noticing Pyrrha scowling at her. "So, after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask her to be on your team?"

Jaune visibly deflated. "I guess not... Sorry…" he managed to say as he hung his head low.

Pyrrha walked up to him and put her right hand on his shoulder. "Actually, Jaune," she started to say, his head already starting to rise again, "I think you'd make a great leader!"

Jaune immediately perked back up. "D'oh, stop it!" he said dramatically.

Weiss chimed in behind him with her hands on her hips, "Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!"

Jaune, clearly not able to take a hint slighter than a brick to the face, started hitting on her again. "Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune." he said as he leaned in close to her, "Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?"

Weiss backed away from him with her arms outstretched. "All right, that's a bit too close!" she said when he leaned in even closer, "Pyrrha, a little help, please?!"

Jaune looked back just in time to for Pyrrha to throw a spear at him, sending the casanova flying into a support wall. "I'm sorry!" she called out afterwards.

Glynda's voice came on the intercom, "Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"I guess that's our cue to leave." Raven observed as he started heading for the door with the others following shortly after him. They found Jaune slumped against the wall he was thrown against.

"Having some trouble there, ladykiller?" Yang asked as Raven pulled him to his feet.

"I don't understand." he stated in confusion when he was standing, "My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?"

Yang glanced around. "'Snow Angel' probably wasn't the best start." she explained to the poor guy. "Now c'mon, we shouldn't keep them waiting for us."


	6. Unrest in the Forest

Raven and the rest of the new students were standing on silver tiles with the Beacon Academy logo imprinted on them built into Beacon Cliff. Yang stood to his right and Ren to his left. Ozpin and Glynda stood closer to the edge and watched them; him drinking from his mug and her holding her scroll like a clipboard. Raven cracked his neck. "It looks like they're all here." Glynda said to Ozpin.

He took a sip from his mug in acknowledgement and turned to address his students. "For years, you have trained to become warriors," he said in a well-rehearsed voice, "and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Glynda took a step forward and followed up by saying, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

 _Fair enough, I guess_ , Raven thought to himself. He had no idea if this was the norm, a consequence of having no formal education, but seeing Ruby's look of confusion, he guessed not.

Ozpin spoke up again, "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next 4 years."

"WHAT!?" Ruby and Edward exclaimed at the same time, much to Ozpin's amusement.

He continued speaking after giving everyone a few seconds to digest what he said, "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." Jaune and a girl with olive pigtails audibly gulped at this revelation. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene." he continued, "You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune raised his hand like he had more than a few questions to ask but Ozpin ignored him entirely. "Good!" he exclaimed, "Now, take your positions." Everyone struck a pose on their tile; Nora crouched, Ren readied his weapons, Raven put on a pair of silver aviators and put his hands in hs coat pockets, Yang raised her fists, Ruby readied her body, and Jaune still had his hand up.

Raven watched silently as student after student was launched from their platform. "See you on the other side." he said to Yang before being launched over Emerald Forest. The wind flew past his face as he flew through the air. _Screw it_ , he thought as he unfurled his wings through the slits in his coat. He loved the feeling of air moving past them. He gave an occasional flap to keep himself airborne, but he was beginning to fall. He saw a bear-like Grimm, an ursa, below him so he wrapped his wings around his body and dive bombed it, striking it down like a meteor with his right Talon.

"Alright," he said as he looked around for any possible dangers, only finding the ursa he crushed dissolving into smoke, "I guess I should start heading for those ruins. I'll probably see someone on the way." He folded his wings behind himself and he started to walk North.

-1 Hour Later-

The forest seemed to be oddly devoid of Grimm as Raven walked through it with silent determination. "I wonder what the relics are supposed to be." he mused loudly, seeing if anyone, or anything, would jump out at him. Sadly, nothing did. "You will meet opposition along the way…" he mocked under his breath. "What a joke." A bush ahead of him started to rustle, much to his relief. "Finally…" he breathed as he expected some manner of Grimm to jump out at him. To his surprise, the girl with the strange olive pigtails ran out of it. Getting a good look at her as she ran towards him, he saw that she had a light complexion and was wearing a yellow thigh-length dress with matching boots and had hazel eyes that shone with fear. _Wait, fear?_

Looking behind her he saw that she was being chased by a boarbatusk, a boar-like Grimm that had white tusks and bone-like armour covering it's face and the top of it's body. She hid behind him, right between his wings. "Save me!" she squealed loudly.

 _Oh Gods, it's gonna be a looong 4 years_ , he thought as the Grimm rushed him. He sidestepped to his right, pulling her with him using a wing, and with a swift kick to it's side he knocked it onto it's side. In the same motion he grabbed the long-barrelled, ebony pistol holstered on his left hip with his left hand and fired 3 .45 ACP rounds into it's exposed underbelly, killing it. He holstered his gun and turned to face the girl behind him. She was almost a foot shorter than him. "You okay?"

She looked like she was on the verge of a complete breakdown. "I hope that's not the only thing that you encountered," he said gruffly. She latched onto him and buried her face in his chest, staining his shirt with tears. He stood there motionless, not sure what he should do.

After a few minutes she let go of him and took a few steps back. "I'm sorry," she sniffled quietly, "I'm not usually like this…"

He crossed his arms and asked, "My name is Raven, what's yours?"

"I...I...I'm Olivia." she answered back hesitantly. She looked afraid of him, something that really shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. "Please don't hurt me."

"Why would I hurt you?" he asked her, honestly confused. Then it hit him. "You saw what I did yesterday." he guessed. She shook her head. He saw her looking nervously back and forth between his wings. _Oh you can_ _ **not**_ _be serious_ , he thought. "Is it because I'm a faunus?" he hoped he was wrong but she nodded anyway. _Great_.

The ground thundered underneath them and what sounded like trees being snapped in half. "What's that noise?" she asked with a barely audible voice. Her question was answered when a person in a familiar silver cloak crashed through a tree before skidding to a stop just in front of them. She screamed in surprise.

He offered a hand to him and brought him to his feet."Didn't think I'd run into you." he said. A stomping sound accompanied by the violent shaking of trees in a straight line towards the three new students brought fear into Edward's eyes.

"We need to run." Edward said urgently, taking off to the North with the other two quickly following behind him, not willing to wait and see what spooked him. The stomping was getting louder as they ran.

"What are we running from?!" Raven asked loudly enough for him to hear. He looked back and gave Raven a look that screamed 'You don't want to know.' They broke through the forest into a clearing with a ruined temple. "You two go to the ruins," he ordered as he turned to face whatever was hunting them, "I'll hold this thing off while you two both grab a relic."

"No." Edward protested, getting right beside Raven, "We only have to grab a relic and then get back to the cliffs. We don't have to kill it, right?" he looked to Olivia for support but she had already taken off. "What's with her?"

"She's scared of faunus." he said as a hulking, gorilla-like Grimm that stood at least twice as tall as he was with various battle scars covering it's body emerged from the forest in front of them. "The fuck are you?" It grabbed Edward and threw him into Olivia as she ran. Raven hit it's face with a left hook but it didn't have any effect. "Oh shi-" he was cut off when the Grimm grabbed his face with it's left arm and lifted him off the ground before pummelling his body with it's right. He swung his right arm out to the side, a 4 foot blade extending out of Talon and he stabbed towards where he thought the thing's body was. He met some resistance and the Grimm gave a grunt of either pain or annoyance before letting go of his head and punching him towards the temple.

He skidded to stop mere inches away from the steps of the ruins. "Good job holding it off." Edward deadpanned behind him before helping him to his feet. The Grimm started to charge at them. "Have any other bright ideas?"

"That depends, how good are you at cutting things' heads off?" he asked Edward. He looked around, "Where's Olivia?" Edward pulled a white pump-action shotgun out from behind his back and he pushed the handgrip forward, extending it into a black and white scythe.

"So what's the plan?" he asked, completely ignoring the question about Olivia.

Raven saw a red splotch on Edward's silver cloak, but he put it out of his mind. It was half-way towards them. "Do you have any gravity Dust shells on you?" he asked. Edward held up a finger in a gesture saying 'one moment' and he formed two shells out of pure Dust and loaded them in his scythe. "Okay, I'll go down the middle and make an opening for you to reap its legs and then it's head." he strategized, before they charged it.

Raven's wings burned bright white with molten fire dripping off of them as the Grimm swung at him with its right arm, but it was caught by him. They glared at each other with equally red eyes as he swung his blade through its arm and twisted, causing it to scream in pain and grab his right arm and pull. Talon's blade began to slowly leave its arm and it started to headbutt him. Once. Twice. Thrice before he shouted "Now!"

The thing looked down as a scythe blade came in front of its legs and a single dark purple shot swept it onto its stomach before the blade rested in front of it's neck. "Die." Edward ordered before pulling the trigger, decapitating it. It started to fade away into smoke and Edward asked him, "So what exactly is your semblance, a power boost?"

Raven returned to normal and cracked his neck. "Not exactly, I absorb the power of everything that hits me and hit back twice as hard." he explained, "In essence it strengthens every muscle in the body by an equal amount, but that's nothing compared to Dust manipulation." then he remembered something, "What happened to Olivia?"

Edward got pale when he heard the question. "She didn't have any aura when the beringel threw me at her." he explained awkwardly, clearly sickened by what happened. So he tried changing the subject...slightly. "How was she even accepted into a school like Beacon anyway? She didn't have any fighting skills or bravery to speak of."

"So she's gone then." Raven said solemnly. A cool breeze blew through the area, he took this as confirmation.

"We should bury her." Edward said but Raven had already began walking towards the temple.

He found an array of chess pieces on pedestals, "The relics I presume." he said when he looked at them. He grabbed the black king piece and left


	7. Into the Fold

**A/N: Hey guys, I went back to re-read the whole story a week ago and I didn't really like how I wrote it. So I nuked it. Every chapter save chapter 1 is new soooo yeah, certainly a thing.**

* * *

Raven was leaning against a wall with various other teams in a room adjacent to the auditorium where teams were being formally created by Professor Ozpin, waiting for Glynda to usher them in. "Edward Silver-Schnee, Magnolia Pourvoi, Nate Krass, Topaz Grace." Ozpin announced in the next room, "The four of you retrieved the white king pieces. From this day forward, you will work together and Team EMNT (Element). Led by… Edward Silver-Schnee.

 _Good for him_ , Raven thought as he saw Pyrrha, Ren, Nora and Jaune get ushered out of the room. Between him and them he could see Ruby moving from foot to foot nervously and had a quiet laugh.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie." They heard Ozpin say, "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by...Jaune Arc!"

"That's certainly something." he speculated louder than he intended to, gaining the attention of the team ahead of him.

"What was that?" Yang asked as she turned towards his voice.

"He's surprised that Jaune was made leader." Blake, a girl wearing black and white, answered without turning around. Before the conversation could start Glynda ushered them out, leaving him alone with her.

"Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." the muffled voice of Ozpin said as Edward choked on nothing, "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

"Yeah, that's about right." Raven observed. Glynda motioned for him to go. "Let's see how this goes then." He walked out into the auditorium amidst thunderous applause, but was replaced with hushed whispers when they saw only him walking towards the stage.

"Ahem." Ozpin coughed to get everyone's attention, "Every year there are some prospects that don't make it through their initial trial, we expect this, but this year we have one less casualty than anticipated. Raven Corvus. You collected the black king piece. From this day forward you will be the first free agent to attend Beacon in several years." This was followed by a lot of talking from everyone else in the room, to much for anything to be comprehensibly heard. "Things are shaping up to be an… interesting year." Off the mic he said, "Raven, a moment of your time if you would." and beckoned him to follow into the hallway.

Raven shrugged and followed. After they had gotten reasonably far away from unwanted ears Ozpin asked, "Should I be concerned about your lack of concern?"

"No." Raven answered back almost too quickly. He was being led by the headmaster towards Beacon Tower, presumably to the man's office.

"And why not?" He asked, curiosity now entering his voice. They entered the base of the tower.

Raven took some time to ascertain why Ozpin was so curious before saying, "Because there's nothing you can do to change me." Ozpin ushered him into the elevator with him. Ozpin hit the floor with his cane and together they went down below the tower.

"Good." he said. The doors opened into a massive, dimly lit, underground chamber where someone was waiting for them.

"You certainly took your sweet time Oz." He said not unkindly. He was dressed dominantly in white with a tattered red cape. He had red eyes and black hair. He looked at Raven directly and said, "Good to see you again kid."

"Qrow." Raven acknowledged with a nod.

"I'd thought you'd enjoy the downtime Qrow." Ozpin said, stepping out of the elevator with Raven in tow. "How is she?"

Qrow sighed and took a flask out of his pocket, taking a short swig. "She's alive." he said beckoning them further. At the end of the long room Raven sighted a complex series of machines with a tube at its center. In it was Amber, the Fall Maiden, barely being kept alive.

-hours later-

Raven had a lot to think about as he made his way towards his dorm. It was nearly midnight and all of the other teams were already asleep. Or so he thought. Outside of one of them, sitting against the wall in a similar sleeping outfit as the night before with her long golden curls around her was Yang. She had her arms wrapped around her knees and didn't notice him as he walked closer. He took off his jacket and sat down and wrapped his right arm around her.

He shook her gently and she jolted awake and jabbed his ribs. Definitely fight over flight, he mused, Not as hard as last time though…

She got her wits about her quickly and saw who she just attacked. "There you are!" she exclaimed groggily, making it very apparent that she fell asleep waiting for him.

"Now what would people have thought if I didn't come down here?" he asked playfully. She was still waking up so he had an idea. He took his scroll out of his pocket and unlocked his door remotely and took off his duster. He wrapped it around Yang who tried, and failed, to protest and carried her bridal style into his room. Inside was a standard sized dorm room with beds, desks, closets, and a large window. Though it seemed that it was prepared for a team of four. He walked over to the window and opened it with a wing. Cool air pushed in and Yang wrapped the duster further around her, regarding him with a curious expression as she did. He grinned and jumped out.

The unexpected drop took the breath out of her and he laughed for the first time in years as he unfurled his wings and started flying straight up. "I hope you're not afraid of heights." he said calmly as he kept ascending. She didn't give an answer, but was staring at his face with a sparkle in her eye. "What?" he asked when he saw what she was doing.

"I don't think I've seen you this happy before!" she shouted happily. She started to look around and was marveling at the new perspective. "This is incredible!"

"Quite uplifting, isn't it?" he asked. She laughed quietly at his pun. Emboldened by this he gave her a quick kiss.

"A quick peck?" she asked with an adorable smirk.

He snorted and under his breath said, "Took the words right outta my mouth…" They peaked out a little over a kilometer above the school before he said, "Hold on tight." He waited until she did before he flipped and dived back the way they came.

"WOOHOO!" she screamed in delight. In seconds he had closed the distance that had taken them minutes to gain and 20 meters up he flipped again and unfurled his wings as wide as they could go to stop gently onto the roof of the dormitory. Their hearts were racing in unison.

"So," he said while panting, "you awake now?"

"Yeah," managed to say between laboured breaths. He took a deep breath and fell backwards onto the roof, earning a surprised squeak from her. He sighed contentedly as he laid there. Yang positioned herself against his side on his right wing, still wrapped in his duster. He pulled her closer and wrapped his wings around them. "Thank you for tonight." she whispered, and they fell asleep in each other's arms.

The sun peaked over the horizon, bathing Beacon in golden sunlight and waking Raven up. He cringed away from the light and looked down at the blonde bombshell on top of him with a smile radiating from his face. She was still fast asleep and he guessed that he had about forty minutes before her absence would be noticed by her team. A shame, he thought ruefully, but for her sake…

He slowly wrapped his arms behind her knees and back and carefully picked her up bridal style and looked down from the edge of the roof. Why is their window open? he wondered as he looked at the small balcony of what he hoped was her team's room. He jumped down, using his wings to slow his descent and landed somewhat nimbly in front of the open window.

Looking in he saw all of her teammates were sleeping comfortably under their covers except for Weiss, who was covered in sweat above hers. That explains the window, he surmised and he gave a sigh of relief. He saw that the bed furthest from the door was empty and slowly started to walk towards it.

CREAK.

He stopped dead in his tracks. You have got to be kidding me, he thought at the emergence of the horrendous cliché. He was about halfway to her bed and he took another few steps.

CREEEAK.

He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and he stopped again. He looked over and saw Ruby roll over towards the door. He was only a few steps away now so he used a wing to push the covers of Yang's bed down. In a flash he was beside her bed and he gently placed her down on the mattress and pulled the covers over her shoulders. "I'll see you later." he whispered to her before kissing her forehead briefly.

He turned around and saw two amber eyes staring at him, making his heart almost stop. He kept a cool composure though, and matched her gaze. The eyes belonged to Blake Belladonna, who was still wearing her bow. He gestured above his head, down to his ears and then raised an eyebrow. Her eyes widened and she nodded. She turned back into her bed and let him leave without making a scene.

He made his way out the same way he got in, this time not making a single noise, and leapt to his dorm, which was conveniently the next one over. He made his way inside and realized that his duster was still wrapped around Yang. "Awww shit." he said not happy about having to have his wings exposed. He noticed something on one of the beds and went to investigate.

"No." he declared at the discovery of the school uniform: a black, gold-lined suit with a blue vest, white dress shirt and a red tie. Then he thought back to his exposed wings. Then back to the uniform. He went back and forth for a short while before taking off his left arm and deciding to check out the bathroom and take a shower.

The bathroom was really only equipped for one person, something that made him laugh when he imagined all of the teams' infighting for hot water. He got undressed and turned the shower on, letting the slowly heating water run over his fingertips. He stepped into it after it had gotten warm enough and he revelled in the warmth for a moment before he started to do what he was there to do. Shampoo. Rinse. Body wash. Rinse. His mind started to drift to a certain blonde, and to what she would look like with the water running through her beautiful golden blonde hair, dripping from her supple breasts and gently tracing her curvaceous hips…

Frigid water shocked him out of his reverie. He quickly turned the water off and grabbed a towel, drying himself off thoroughly in the steamy room. He opened the door to the main room to let some of it out and used his wet towel to wipe off the fogged over mirror and got a look at his face. His face and neck were covered in white stubble and he saw small tinges of red were embedded in the silver of his eyes. He ran his hand against the small hairs and thought, It doesn't look too bad. His eyes were more concerning to him, mostly because he had no idea why that happened. He shrugged and decided to wear sunglasses until he could figure it out. He went back to the main room and finally decided to at least see how the uniform fit him.

He removed his towel and started to get dressed. He put his arm back on then pulled a knife out of one of his nearby boots and cut slits into the backs of the dress shirt and the suit coat. He threw one of his grey shirts into the mix and put it on before the dress shirt. A few minutes, and a fair amount of struggling, later he stood fully in uniform with his wings folded up along the outside of the coat, and his gunbelt on his waist. "This is an incredibly good fit." he observed after putting on his boots. He surveyed the room for his scroll and found it laying haphazardly on one of the beds. He flipped it over and turned it on then cursed loudly. He shoved it into his pocket and ran out the door, sunglasses forgotten.


	8. Let the Game Begin

Raven arrived at lecture hall 1-G with a few minutes to spare. He opened the door and walked in, looking for a place to sit. Unfortunately, it looked like he was the last one to arrive, and every seat not front and center was taken. He decided to take the spot on the far right and sat down.

"We'll wait another, oh, let's say 5 minutes." Professor Port said monotonously. He was a heavyset man with gray hair parted down the center and a thick gray mustache and wore a double-breasted burgundy suit with gold piping and buttons and olive cavalry boots.

"Sorry we're late!" Weiss called out with the rest of her team close behind. They were all wearing red plaid skirts, brown jackets with tan vests and white shirts with red ribbons tied at their collars. The only difference in the attire was Ruby's trademark cape pinned to her shirt and how much skin on their legs they were showing; Ruby's were completely covered, Weiss and Blake both wore socks that reached the middle of the calves and Yang wore black stockings up to the middle of her thigh, leaving only an inch of skin showing. Weiss looked around and saw the same thing that Raven had not 3 minutes ago. They walked down to the front row and, to Raven's amusement, sat down in their team's order, with Ruby on the outside.

"You look good." Yang purred when she sat beside him.

Raven shrugged. "More hassle than it was worth." he said as he took a look at her. "But you look absolutely stunning."

She was about to reply but was cut off by Professor Port who said, "My name is Professor Peter Port and I am here to teach you about the creatures of Grimm and how best to kill them." He was met with the class' immediate attention and continued his introduction. "You will have the honour of being in my class every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from 9 to 10." Raven reached underneath the table and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. He wrote, 'How was your sleep?' on it and passed it to Yang while Prof. Port continued on with the class' introduction. Raven looked around at the various diagrams hanging above the black board. Yang passed the paper back to him. It read 'It was great, but I missed my body pillow when I woke up…'

He had a grin on his face when he read her response. 'You looked so serene in the morning light it would have been a crime to wake you up. What'd you do with my jacket?' He passed it back and started studying the beowolf diagram. It had detailed descriptions of their physical abilities and durability. Yang snorted. He concluded that beowolves, alpha or otherwise, were not a threat, so he moved on to the next diagram. Or he would have had he not seen the paper back in front of him. 'It's still on my bed. Why do you want to be a huntsman?' he read, recoiling at the suddenness of the question. He looked at the clock on the wall, it read '9:30'. _How have 30 minutes gone by already?_ he thought, _I'm not complaining, but damn._

His train of thought was interrupted by the Portly professor. "Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" The class was stunned into silence by the terrible joke. "Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy!" he said, trying to win back everyone's attention, "Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses…" he winked at Yang, who looked around and groaned uncomfortably while Raven let out a low growl and glared daggers at him with red eyes, stopping him in his tracks. He coughed slightly and continued on, "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

Raven wrote 'Who said anything about wanting to be a huntsman?' and passed the paper back as a student in the back stood up and exclaimed, "Ayyyy-yep!" with a raised fist. Everyone looked at him like he had two heads and he sat back down, visibly embarrassed. Port went off on a tangent and started to tell a story that Raven tried paying attention to, but it was just a story about his childhood, not exactly compelling subject matter. Yang passed the page back to him, and it had the obvious question written on it. 'Then why enrol at a school dedicated to training huntsmen and huntresses then?'

"Why not?" he whispered to her, deciding to listen in on what they were being 'taught'.

"The moral of the story? A true huntsman must be honourable! A true huntsman must be dependable! A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" Prof Port hammered in. Yang slid the page back in front of him. He was confused, she had only written one word 'Surprise!' "So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

Yang grabbed one of his arms and proclaimed, "He does!" just as Weiss' hand shot up and she said, "I do, sir!"

"Well, then, let's find out which of you is truly fit to be the best!" he said, motioning for them to step onto the floor. "Step forward and face your opponent!"

"Can you give me a few minutes please?" Weiss asked.

"Of course my dear, of course." he said jubilantly as Weiss ran out the door. "And you there," he pointed to Raven, "do you need any time to prepare?"

"Nope." he said as he took off his tie and pulled his wings into the suit to take it off.

"Excellent! Then would you mind helping me with a demonstration?" he asked, gesturing over to a large cage cloaked in shadow with a pair of red eyes staring out of it.

Raven shrugged. "Why not." he said simply.

Prof Port stood next to the cage with his weapon, a blunderbuss with axe blades on either side of the stock, readied in his hands. "Show it who's boss Raven!" Yang exclaimed, earning curious looks from Ruby and Blake and a wink from Raven. "What?"

"Allllright!" Prof Port said as he swung his weapon at the cage's lock, "Let the match… begin!" The broken lock clattered to the ground and the cage door burst open, revealing a boarbatusk, roughly the same size as Prof Port, charging at him.

 _Too easy, but repetition is boring_ , Raven thought. He stomped on the Grimm's head when it was a foot in front of him and kicked into the air when it started to flip. He pulled out his pistol and fired a single shot upwards without looking and holstered his pistol. A few seconds later he was surrounded by nothing but smoke, but he flapped his wings once and it dissipated.

"It looks like we **are** in the presence of a true huntsman in training!" Prof Port exclaimed as Weiss got back, back in her usual clothes and with Myrtenaster in her hand. "And lo she returns. Are you ready to go another round?" he asked Raven.

"If she's not too scared to." he said with a smirk as he cracked his neck.

"Excellent!" Prof Port exclaimed. He walked over to his desk and pushed a button, revealing a pair of monitors on the ceiling; one with Raven and his total aura represented by a green bar and the other with Weiss and her aura. "Step forward and face your opponent!" he instructed enthusiastically.

Weiss took a well rehearsed stance with her legs slightly parted and her rapier pointed at Raven who stood with his arms crossed. "Ready for round two?" he asked casually.

"Hmph, you won't get lucky this time." she scoffed while glaring daggers into him.

"Goooo, Weiss!" Yang cheered.

"Why must you hurt me so?" he joked with his hand over his heart in mock pain. She rolled her her playfully and blew him a kiss.

Blake pulled out and waved a small flag with 'RWBY' written on it and said, "Fight well."

 _When did she have time to make that_ , he thought. He glanced back to Weiss and saw that she was fuming about his lack of concern. _Neat._

"Yeah!" Ruby chimed in, "Represent teeeam RWBY!"

Weiss lowered her weapon and looked over at her leader. "Ruby!" she snapped, "I'm trying to focus!"

Ruby looked at her sheepishly. "Oh, um, sorry." Raven shook his head.

"Alllllright!" Prof Port announced, "let the match… Begin!"

Weiss lunged across the room at him in a very practiced, very proper motion. He shook his head, took a breath in, and caught the center of her rapier with a crescent kick followed by a side kick to her throat. She stumbled back a few meters to keep her balance. She wasn't followed. "Ugh!" she growled angrily as she charged him again, this time with a series of quick thrusts at him. He used his left arm to block the blows, each of them with a resounding _Clang_. She flipped backwards and waved her free hand, surrounding him with white glyphs. She charged past him into one and started quickly flying around him, bouncing from glyph to glyph, and striking him whenever she could.

 _ClangClangClangClangClangClangClangClangClangClang!_...The room was filled with the sound of metal striking metal until Raven grabbed her left wrist with his right hand, filling the room with silence. "Fix your attitude." he said before squeezing her wrist and twisting it to the outside, making her drop her rapier. He wrapped his arms around her head and placed his hands behind her head to pull her head down into his rising knee like a jackhammer until Prof Port called, "Enough!" and he released his grip and stepped back. Weiss fell onto her knees and would have fallen flat had Ruby not appeared beside her on her knees with her arms wrapped around her 'friend' and teammate. "She'll be fine." Raven said quietly, he looked over at everyone else and saw a mixture of shocked and horrified faces, but the rest of team RWBY were absent from their seats. He looked back towards Ruby and Weiss, "She'll have a bit of a headache for a while but she shouldn't be any more irritable than usual."

Prof Port cleared his throat loudly and said, "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"

Raven quickly made his way to the door and left before everyone else. His speedy get away was interrupted by the conscious members of team RWBY and Edward who was seething. "What is your problem!?" he demanded. Raven ignored him and kept walking. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Edward shouted. He grabbed one of Raven's wings and received a vicious elbow to the face for his effort.

"Leave me alone." he growled, putting emphasis on each word. Ruby appeared in front of him with her arms crossed.

"I'm not moving until you tell us why you don't like Weiss."

"Okay." he said as he walked around the small leader. Blake and Yang put up a united front next and he quickly found himself surrounded. The hallway they were cornering him in was devoid of other students, leaving him ripe for interrogation.

Edward got up in his face and jabbed a finger into his chest. "Why did you fight her at all?" he demanded. Blake was looking at Raven inquisitively as he did so, like he was a puzzle that needed to be solved.

"I have this thing called pride, maybe you've heard of it?" he said sarcastically, earning disapproving looks from everyone.

"How did you even do that?" Ruby asked, speaking up for the first time and getting a curious look from him, "Knock her out I mean, wouldn't her aura protect her from that?"

Blake and Edward turned to look at her. "It doesn't matter how he-" Edward started before he was interrupted by Raven.

"In most cases you'd be right," he explained to her, "but aura doesn't completely stop concussive attacks, like a knee to the head for example." He looked at the everyone around him; Edward was still pissed, Ruby was ruminating on what he had just told her, Blake was still looking at him like a puzzle and Yang had her arms crossed..

"We need to talk." she said. She looked around at everyone else, "Alone." Blake walked away first, not wanting to get in between them. Ruby and Edward took a bit more convincing, though.

"How about you two go check out the dining hall." Yang suggested, "Maybe you could get something to eat." On cue Ruby's stomach made a long, loud growl, and her face flushed in embarrassment.

"Didn't have time for breakfast?" Raven asked. She nodded. "Go on then, and Edward," Edward looked at him warily, "why don't you take her to the infirmary to check on Weiss first, I'm sure you three can get along together." Before Edward could protest Ruby grabbed his arm and dragged him off. Raven waited until they were out of earshot before facing Yang and saying, "I'm not apologizing."

"Who taught you to fight like that?" she asked.

"Can't tell you." he answered. She looked surprised at his refusal but their conversation was cut short by a swarm of students walking towards the. "Follow me." he ordered.

* * *

"Where are you taking me?" she asked him. They were walking alone towards a secluded grey building on the academy grounds.

"You want to know who trained me, right?" he asked when they got to the front door. "Then let's have some fun first." he continued before she could answer, "If you can beat me in a fight then I'll tell you outright, otherwise I'll just leave a few hints every now and then until you get it right. How's that sound?"

"Sounds like you almost want to lose." She answered without hesitating. He gave her a wolfish grin and opened the door, revealing it to be a training facility, complete with various different exercise machines, weights, and a sparring cage. "Wow, how did you even know this was here?" she asked as she walked around.

He pulled out his scroll, clicked on an app, and entered in '000028'. "I took a walk around the campus a few days before we were all shipped up here." he explained as part of the roof started to open up and a locker crashed along the wall. "That actually worked out better than I thought it would." he said, mostly to himself.

A split second later a second locker crashed beside it. He looked back at Yang, who had her scroll in her hand and a mischievous smile on her face. "No locker rooms." she said.

He shrugged as he walked towards the lockers. "Who said we needed one?" he called back as he opened his locker door and hung up his suit jacket and tie. He started to unbutton his shirt and was trying to take it and the vest off at the same time when Yang grabbed them from between his wings and pulled them off for him. "Thanks." She ran a hand along his spine around where his wings connected, sending a shiver through his body.

"I always thought that your wings would be attached to your shoulder blades." she teased as she traced his spine with her index finger.

"If they were then I wouldn't be able to move my ar-" he said as he turned around to grab his clothes, but the words died on his lips when he saw her. She was wearing nothing but a yellow bra and black boy shorts that hugged the ample curves of her chest and hips, contrasting beautifully against her toned torso and long legs. "-ms." he finished after what could have been an eternity. "I'm sorry, what were we talking about?"

"We were getting ready to fight each other." she said innocently as she walked past him to her locker. "You look a little flustered Raven," she said as she leaned forward with her hands clasped behind her back, giving him an even better view of her cleavage, "are you okay?"

His mind was rushing for something clever until it found something. "I'm great, but what's that you've got there?" he asked running his index finger on the center of her chest.

"Huh?" she questioned as she looked down, only to have her chin caught by his hand.

"Gotcha." he whispered before capturing her lips with his own. He broke the kiss after a few moments and moved his hand gently across her cheek. "You're still going to lose." he said coolly, as a slew of emotions erupted in him.

"As if." she said as she pushed him away playfully.

They both got into their regular gear and stepped into the cage.

Yang wasted no time and went to throw a heavy punch at Raven but he hit her in the face with a snap jab, disorienting her and making her take a few steps back. She looked back at him and he still had his right fist out and a grin on his face. She rushed him with a series of punches and elbows, he weaved around every strike and redirected those he couldn't but he was still being pushed back. "What's the matter Yang, can't hit a moving target?" he taunted with a smirk. She was getting more angry with every hit he avoided so she switched tactics and and grabbed his collar.

"Try getting away now!" she growled. He laughed quietly before quickly windmilling his arm over and around hers and resting it behind his head, trapping her in a shoulder lock.

"So, you come here often?" She was going to punch him but he threw his leg in front of hers and swept her onto her back and kicked her to the other side of the ring. She stood back up slowly and her eyes turned blood red and she erupted into flames. "Ooh, now we're playing with fire." he mused. She charged him with her right arm arced back to deliver a devastating punch. She hit him square on the nose, sending him flying. But her small victory was short-lived as he grabbed her wrist and, with the momentum she gave him, threw her vertically over his shoulder and onto the ground, cracking it and turning it red. "Looks like that's it." he said casually as he lifted her to her feet. She didn't look happy. "Listen. You have nothing to be ashamed of, you put up a good fight." he said, trying to reassure her, it wasn't working. "Who taught you how to fight?"

"Who taught you how to fight?" she huffed back. He looked at her with amusement on his face before she sighed and said, "My dad taught me almost everything I know about fighting and the rest I kinda figured out as I went along. Now tell me who taught you."

"Ah ah ah," he chided as he crossed his arms, "that's not how the game works." he saw the look of annoyance on her face, "Buuuuut for you, I'll make things easier. Pick a number between 1 and 10."

She put her hands on her hips and asked, "How is that in any way easier?"

"Just pick a number."

"10"

He smiled at her answer. "I know you are." She punched him lightly on the shoulder and he continued, "I'll give you a hint every two days." She cocked her head slightly to the side, as if to ask why, to which he responded, "That's what you agreed to."

"Hmph." she grumbled, "Can I get my hint now?"

"Of course, she graduated from Beacon, but enough of that. Let's get my jacket and eat."


	9. Broken

Raven and Yang made their way to her team's dorm. She was back in her uniform and he was still in his regular clothing. "Why do you want your jacket back so much?" Yang asked.

"I keep all of my things in it." he explained in front of her door. "And it's the only constant I've had in my life. You think it got that comfortable overnight?"

She opened the door and stood in the frame. "I'll let you through if you tell me who trained you." she said with a smile.

"Oh really?" he asked. She grinned and crossed her arms. He scooped her up over his shoulder and carried her into the room, and was welcomed to a sight that left him dumbfounded. Two of the room's four beds were organized into a makeshift bunkbed supported by books and another was suspended by various ropes attached to the ceiling above the fourth bed. "How and why?" he asked her as she struggled in his grip, lightly hitting his back as she did so.

"Why not?" she answered after she slid off of his shoulder and stuck the landing.

He had a lot of questions, but he doubted any of them would be answered. "Where's my jacket?" he asked.

"Who trained you?" she asked back.

"Where's. My. Jacket." he said slowly.

"Who. Trained. You." she answered identically.

 _We're really doing this_ , he thought. "Why does that matter to you?" he asked instead.

"Why do you hate Weiss?" she asked back. His nostrils flared slightly letting her know that she was getting under his skin. Then he did something unexpected.

"I don't have anything against her personally, I just hate everyone in Atlas as a whole." he answered truthfully. He hoped that an answer would shake her enough to get his jacket but he overplayed his hand.

"Why?" she pressured. She crossed her arms and pushed out her chest a bit. They were quiet for a long while, each waiting for the other to break.

He sighed. "Do you really want to know?" he submitted. She nodded and looked at him expectantly. "I lived in Atlas with my parents until I was 8, then the White Fang changed from a peaceful organization into the terrorist group it is today and everything changed." She was watching him expectantly as he spoke. "The whole town turned on us and decided to interrogate my father and I because we were faunus. They raped my mother in front of him when he didn't have the answers they wanted then they brought me in and beat me within an inch of my life." he was wrapped in the flames of his rage but kept going anyway, "The best part? After they decided we had nothing to tell them they shoved my parents into the press and for shits and giggles decided to only crush one of my arms. So there you go, now you know why. Now: WHERE IS THE JACKET MY MOTHER MADE ME?"

Yang pulled him into a fierce hug and refused to let go. Raven aggressively tried to remove her arms but she didn't give an inch. The fire from his wings slowly began to engulf them as his rage mixed with pain, grief and confusion.

* * *

Weiss had made a full recovery by the time that the young leader and her wolfish companion had gotten to her, much to Ruby's relief.

"Please leave me alone." Weiss said quietly still giving the cold shoulder. Ruby and Edward turned to leave but Weiss grabbed his wrist and said, "Not you."

Ruby was confused and was going to ask why but another growl from her stomach had her say nothing and she headed for the cafeteria where she ran into Blake.

She was sitting alone with a book while eating a tuna sandwich, and when she saw Ruby approaching her with a tray filled to the brim with strawberries she shrugged and continued what she was doing. Beside her, Ruby was devouring her strawberries mentioned that their next class was combat-oriented while Ruby was happily eating strawberries.

"What class do we have next?" Ruby asked between berries.

"Combat, I think." Blake said back without looking away from her book. The word 'combat' snapped Ruby to attention and with a quick, excited squeal she seemed to teleport out of the room. Blake shrugged and continued her own thing.

Ruby zipped down the halls of the dormitory beyond excited for her next class. The halls were sparsely populated and she earned a few curious looks as she dashed through completely unconcerned about anything else. She was met by the smell of something burning so she took out her scroll and used it to unlock the door and was stunned by the sight before her.

"Just let me go…" Raven said feebly, still trying to break her grip around him. The flames around them subsided as he fell to his knees. She followed him down, noting that most of their clothes had burned away. He stopped trying to break free and just fell apart, sobbing wildly while Yang acted as his anchor. "Why?" he asked both her and the heavens.

Yang noticed her sister standing in the doorway but focused her attention on the smoldering person that she was embracing. Ruby watched awkwardly as the scene in front of her unfurled but suddenly Raven's head snapped up and he stared directly into her eyes. She stared back, completely petrified by his almost soulless gaze, but she saw a growing number of red specks appeared in his silver iris'.

Yang leaned in and pulled him into an impassioned kiss, bringing his attention back to her as he kissed back.

Ruby moved back and forth from foot to foot, not sure how to respond to her sister and Raven making out, almost naked, on their knees. Yang broke the kiss as abruptly as she started it and said, "I don't know, but I'm not leaving any time soon."

* * *

 **A/N: I probably just traumatized Ruby...dammit...**

 **On another note, the only reason this chapter took so long to come out was because of that last line...which doesn't make sense to me either, especially considering how everything else came out smoothly in about 30 minutes. Anyway, I'm curious about you guys. More specifically, what inspires you? My muse for a little while now has been music (the Vol. 4 soundtrack and Sabaton) and I wrote this chapter while listening to 'This Life is Mine' on a loop for an hour. Is that weird? Who knows. Anyways, try not to get into too much trouble guys, until next time.**


	10. Jarring Transition

Raven was walking down the occupied rows of tables while eating a piece of jerky when he heard Nora exclaim, "We'll break his legs!"

He looked ahead and saw teams RWBY, JNPR and EMNT sitting together and looking angrily a few tables down. He followed their gaze to Cardin Winchester: the bully of their class currently pulling on the ears of a rabbit faunus while his friends laughed. "Ow! That hurts!" she cried.

 _Oh hell no_ , he thought as he stormed over to them. "Don't." Raven threatened coldly as he grabbed the bully's wrist and began to slowly crush it with his robotic arm. He let go of the girl's ear and stood up in front of Raven.

"Or what?" he demanded as he looked down at Raven.

"Go." he said to the girl as he removed his hand from the guy's, now slightly dented, vambrace. She nodded and quickly started to leave the hall, covering her face in embarrassment as she did. "Or I kick your ass in front of your little boyband, Winchester." he answered without once removing his glare. The rest of Cardin's team jumped to their feet and he crossed his arms.

"You just messed with the wrong guy, freak."

Raven, still glaring, mockingly said, "How cute. Now tell me, do you four wear armour to compensate for anything?" Cardin attacked him with a heavy overhand punch that Raven easily caught and used to throw the big lug over his shoulder and through the table with a woody crunch. "I'll take that as a yes." Raven said as the other three proceeded to jump him. He grabbed one of their arms and pulled him in front of him to block a couple of strikes before picking him up and dropping him on Cardin, turning it into a 2-on-1 fight.

He would have happily continued, but Glynda Goodwitch walked into the hall and ordered, "Enough!"

Raven looked over to her and saw the girl he had 'saved' standing behind her. _Would you look at that, I've made a friend_ , he mused.

"You five, come with me!" Glynda ordered with a crack of her riding crop. He shrugged and took a piece of jerky out of his pocket before leaving his opponents to get their leader back to his feet. He tore a chunk off his jerky with his teeth and saw that everyone in the hall was looking at them, most with approving looks but some who obviously shared a prejudice against faunus. _I've made many friends, I guess_ , he thought, pleasantly surprised. He gave a sly wink to Yang as he walked past where she was sitting.

"What's all this about?" she demanded when he got to her, her arms crossed.

"Merely a disagreement about how one should treat a fellow student, nothing you should be concerned about." he answered civilly.

"And what happened to the table?" she inquired.

"I'm afraid Cardin was thrown off balance by his armour, a terrible shame, but what can you do?" he said as team CRDL approached them.

"I see." she said in response, "You four will come with me, but you," she pointed at Raven, "will go to the headmaster immediately. Miss Scarlatina here will make sure you get there."

Raven and Velvet walked up to the elevator in the base of Beacon Tower and called down the main elevator. "Thanks for helping me earlier." she said while they waited.

Before he could utter a response the rest of her team showed up in front of them: Coco Adel, the stylish leader of team CFVY, Fox Alistair, a white eyed dark-skinned muay thai fighter , and Yatsuhashi Daichi, a colossus of a man easily standing over a foot above most people.

"Is this your new boyfriend, Velvet?" Coco teased with a hand on her hip. Raven noticed that they were all sizing him up and smirked a little bit.

"W-Wha!?" Velvet exclaimed as a heavy blush erupted across her face, earning a good-hearted laugh from Coco and Fox, and a slight look of jealousy from Yatsuhashi. "N-No! He just beat up some guys who were picking on me!"

Yatsuhashi's brow furrowed a bit, but he still said nothing. Fox looked like he was about to say something but Coco beat him to the punch. "Who and why?" she almost demanded. The sudden change in her attitude almost made Raven chuckle, something that only Fox seemed to sense.

"I-I think they were Team CRDL." Velvet squeaked.

"Just a bunch of arrogant idiots." Raven said dismissively.

"So then, where are you two going?" Fox said after a slight pause.

"Velvet here is taking me to see Professor Ozpin while Professor Goodwitch deals with the other four." Raven answered as much like any other student as he could, earning a few strange looks from the team in front of him. "Anyways...it'd probably be wise not to keep him waiting." he said as he got into the elevator. "And Velvet," he said to get her attention, "next time they pick on you let me know, I think I'll do what Nora suggested." Then the doors closed and he made his way up..


	11. Chapter 11

The opening of the elevator doors snapped him out of his reverie and he was presented by a large, clock-like office with the far walls being almost entirely composed of glass. Sitting behind a desk in front of the face of the clocktower was Ozpin drinking coffee. "I take it I'm not here for a social call." Raven said as he stepped into the office.

"Straight to the point then." Ozpin observed as he took another sip of his coffee. He regarded Raven with a criticality that made the young huntsman feel like prey, a feeling that he didn't appreciate having again. "Do you know why we haven't had a free agent at this school for so long?"

"Effectiveness." Raven stated plainly.

Ozpin expected his answer. "Exactly, a group can do what an individual cannot, but the opposite is also true, hence why you and Qrow operate as such." he gestured to one of the chairs in front of his desk and Raven sat down. "We have reason to believe that her agents are working with Roman Torchwick."

Raven leaned forward seriously. "Have you heard anything from Qrow?" he asked. The aging huntsman was sent out by Ozpin to find out more about their mysterious foes but he hadn't been in contact for a month.

"Unfortunately not," Ozpin said solemnly, "but we can't afford to wait much longer." Raven looked to him expectantly, waiting to be told to take down Torchwick, but the headmaster had other plans. "For now we need to discuss candidates for the new Fall Maiden."

"You're thinking of asking Pyrrha, aren't you?"

Ozpin was surprised at the bluntness of the question but he only showed it for a moment. "I take it we are of a similar mind then?"

"No."

"Oh?"

"If you ask her I have no doubt that she would accept it, her sense of duty would demand it, but she already feels alone in the world because of her abilities, what do you think she might do if she feels even more alone?" Raven explained calmly. In truth he couldn't think of a better candidate but his humanity wouldn't let him let her suffer.

"Then who would you have claim the mantle?"

Raven looked down at his hands to try and think of anyone else, but came up with nothing. "...Just because she's the best option doesn't make her a great one." he said at last. He looked up and saw that Ozpin was looking at him sympathetically, and at that moment he knew that the headmaster had been thinking the same thing.

"Sometimes we just have to play the hand we're dealt." he said wistfully. He stared absently for a moment but then said, "If we're lucky our friends in Atlas will find a way to save her before we have to make the choice." Raven subconsciously clenched his fists at the mention of his homeland, "Until then, keep your eyes open."

"Is that all?" he asked as he unclenched his fists.

"Yes." Raven got up and made his way back to the elevator. "I appreciate that you stand up for your fellow students, Raven." Ozpin called out as the student got into the elevator. He shook his head reminiscently as the doors closed and he was again left alone atop the tower. "I just hope it turns out better this time."


	12. Chapter 12: Something to Prove

Raven was torn between the ideology he was taught and the one he had started to construct for himself, too absorbed in thought to notice that the elevator was filling with smoke. _What's that smell,_ he thought absently. Then it hit him. "Dammit!"

* * *

Ruby, Blake, Weiss and Yang were standing outside of the elevator at the base of the tower. "Do you think he's in trouble?" Ruby asked innocently.

"He did beat up other students." Weiss pointed out.

"But he was standing up for someone else." Blake countered.

"Why are you defending him?"

"He seems like a nice person."

"He's knocked me out 3 times!"

Ruby looked away from her friends' squabble to see Yang looking up the tower expectantly and she thought back to when she saw Raven collapsed on his knees in Yang's arms. He acted a lot like she did when her mom didn't come back. Maybe something happened to his parents when he was a kid too.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a pleasant beep and the elevator doors opened, greeting them with a wall of smoke erupting out towards them. "What…?" Weiss struggled to say as she and her team coughed.

They heard somebody sigh and saw someone moving effortlessly through the dissipating smoke. Weiss marched up to the person and jabbed a finger into their chest. "How dare you ruin my uniform, do you have any idea who I am!?"

The smoke cleared enough for the rest of her team to see who it was that stepped out of the elevator, but his voice was telling enough. "Someone spoiled enough to think that a little smoke will ruin clothes."

"Raven?" Ruby asked, though instead of waiting for him to answer she ran up beside Weiss. "Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

He looked down at himself and saw that he had inadvertently burned off his shirt, and that Weiss' finger was still lingering on his chest. "Weiss." he said bringing her back to attention. She pulled her hand back sharply, embarrassed and red-faced, but was saved an explanation by Ruby.

"Where did you get all of those scars?" she asked in reference to the countless silver lines covering his torso.

His heart skipped a beat. "Beowolves." he lied, hoping it would be enough. It wasn't. Ruby, Weiss and Blake took a closer look, but Yang slipped behind him. "These don't look big enough or deep enough to be from a beowolf." Blake pointed out.

Ordinarily he would have had no problem coming up with a rebuttal but he was still impassioned from his meeting with Ozpin. He was racking his brain until he felt someone reach underneath his arms and run their fingernails overtop his scars. Blake and Weiss' faces both turned cherry red.

"Why is Yang doing that?" Ruby asked innocently. She got some strange looks from Weiss and Blake, both tilting their heads inquisitively. Raven however, relished the distraction.

"Her Ember Celica have sharp edges." he explained almost too quickly.

Something flicked on in Ruby's eyes and she almost squealed. "You two train together? Where!?"

 _...Shit_ , he thought.

"Miss Xiao Long, what do you think you're doing!?" Professor Goodwitch demanded. Yang's arms immediately shot to her sides as the combat instructor stormed over to them. "And you, Raven." she snapped with a crack of her riding crop. "Our dress code doesn't allow for any exposed chests."

Raven was unfazed by her comments, in truth they felt more like an excuse than her duty as a professor. He had a theory. "And what will my punishment be?"

He made no attempt to hide the fact that he liked where things were going and she gave a ghost of a smile as if to say 'try not to enjoy yourself too much.' Instead she readjusted her glasses said, "Tomorrow you fight Team CRDL." turned, and walked away.

Nobody said anything as realization set in; Ruby and Blake thought that it wasn't fair, Weiss was confused by the severity of the punishment and Yang looked to Raven confidently. "Not Cardin's biggest fan, is she?" Yang observed.

"Or she doesn't like Raven." Blake retorted. The team began arguing amongst themselves; Ruby, Weiss and Blake making a united front against Yang.

The last comment didn't sit too well with Raven. He knew that he could easily destroy CRDL, and he wanted to make them understand that. "Can I get your guys' help with something?" he asked the bickering group. They all turned to face him, giving him confused looks; in the weeks that they've known him he had never once asked for help...from anyone. "It's been a while since I fought a group, so can you guys fight me as a group to prepare for it?" he asked, knowing full well what their thought processes would be. Ruby and Yang would agree to help without a second thought, they were always ready to help a friend, Weiss would already have had the gears in her head turning, she wanted to beat him senseless and fighting with her team gave her the best chance of doing it. Blake was usually the wildcard but if it involved kicking a racist's ass she was all for it. They all nodded amongst themselves and said.

"Okay!"

"Fine."

"Sure."

"Banzai!"

"Great!" he exclaimed, throwing Blake and Weiss of with an uncharacteristic smile and enthusiasm. "Get everything that you need and meet me at our facility, Yang will show you guys where it is."


	13. Chapter 13

Raven slid his hands into his jacket pockets and felt Talons tighten snugly around his hands and forearms before optimizing themselves. Team RWBY stood opposite to him, weapons drawn and ready...and a little confused by his laid back stance. Weiss' eye began to twitch as she got more and more irritated at his nonchalance, positive that he was doing it to spite her. The rest of her team knew she was reaching a boiling point.

Ruby was about to call something out but was cut-off by Raven. "Pick a number between 1 and 10."

"What's he talking about?" Weiss asked Yang. She shrugged in response. She knew it was his favourite 'game' to play, but there were no rules to what it could be about. It could be how much effort he was going to put in, or a grace period where he'll do nothing or just an arbitrary thing just to screw with them.

"10!" Ruby answered confidently while a dangerous gleam shone in his eyes.

Just like her sister, he mused. He took out his hands, took off the duster and started to charge.

"Freezer burn!" Ruby called out. Weiss darted forward and froze the ground in front of the with a glyph. Yang jumped into the air and hit the freshly frozen ground while firing a shot, filling the building with a thick mist. "Checkmate!"

Unfazed, Raven kept running at them, intent on sensing his way through until he felt something thrust into his back. He spun with It, effectively keeping the tip just off of his skin until he grabbed his assailant's wrist and got a look at her face; a mix of shock and anger, soon to be pain. A cleaver whistled as it cut through the air at the, so he threw the heiress at it and flapped his wings to dispel the mist.

Blake was helping Weiss up on his right and the sisters were coming at him from his left. He immediately charged the vulnerable pair of Blake and Weiss. He swung at Blake but only hit a shadow clone and instinctively blocked her counter attack while kicking Weiss farther back. Blake flipped backwards but he was unrelenting and charged her with a straight punch. She left a clone to take the blow but a long thick blade penetrated through it and slammed into her stomach, her aura fighting desperately to fight back the point as it knocked the wind out of her and retracted back into the gauntlet from whence it came. She looked around him and saw Yang and Ruby coming to their aid primed to attack but then she looked at Raven's face, the grin he had was more than telling.

He moved his head to the left as Yang's fist occupied the space and was promptly thrown over his shoulder between he and Blake then caught Ruby's scythe. She gasped in shock. He stomped down on Yang's ribs then kicked Ruby with enough force to shatter concrete. Weiss moved almost faster than the eye could follow and positioned herself to soften Ruby's landing. He admired the scythe in his hands, finding it surprisingly well balanced, and hovered the blade over the ground between Blake and Yang. His eyes burned red as a malicious smile graced his lips and moved to pull the trigger of the sniper rifle and Blake closed her eyes and waited for the shot.

A second passed. Then another. Blake cracked open an eye but then opened both in shock at the sight before her; one of Raven's eyes had returned to it's natural silver but it had a countless number of red specks aggressively swimming in it. His finger was trembling over the trigger as an internal war was waged. Blake watched in awe as part of the book she had just finished reading the night before, 'The Man with Two Souls', seemed to be playing out in front of her. Unbeknownst to him Yang had gotten up to a knee, her own eyes burning red, as she exploded upwards as she connected with an uppercut.

He lost his grip on the scythe as he left the ground only to be met by the ceiling 20 feet away. Yang caught her breath as he fell to the ground and laid still. The battle within turned as the red took advantage of the silver's momentarily struggle with consciousness. The monitor above them showed the amount of aura they all had left:

Ruby Rose: 25%

Weiss Schnee: 70%

Blake Belladonna: 50%

Yang Xiao Long: 52%

Raven Corvus: 90%

Raven stood up with his eyes closed as Yang rushed him with another punch ready. His wings burned black flames as his eyes shot open blood-red and manic. He extended his left talon's blade out half a foot and punched her forearm instead of blocking or dodging then kept going, throwing punch after punch as she struggled to defend herself from the sudden onslaught. It wasn't like anything she had ever faced, even when they practiced together, and the look he had was almost terrifying; no fear, no remorse, only the desire to destroy and kill and conquer. Even when her team came to help they were beaten away like afterthoughts then his attention was turned back to her. The red light indicating that someones aura had dropped below the safe level went ignored as he grabbed one of her arms and pulled it up then proceeding to spartan kick her away as her aura completely dissipated.

The rest of her team tried to but couldn't make it fast enough as he extended one of his blades and began to strike….


	14. Chapter 14

Raven lay on top of Beacon Tower alone. His hand was shaking, and had been since he took back control from the Branwen tribe's 'Angel of Death', the monster inside of him. It didn't care about anything and held an immutable hatred for humans. That it was back paled in comparison to what it did, which brought him to why he was on the tower too shaken to remember his duster.

Part of him figured that Ozpin knew about what happened, one way or another, and would have questions, but the rest of him didn't care. He pulled his scroll out of his pocket turned off location tracking on it and turned on some music. He needed to think, and music was his catalyst for it. Unfortunately the day's events had finally caught up to him, and he passed out.

* * *

A younger Raven was panting heavily as he leaned against a massive oak tree, clutching onto a tanto as he hid. He heard dozens of hurried footsteps from the other side and he held his breath hoping not to be seen. He didn't make a sound until he was sure that he was alone. He let out a sigh of relief, then nearly jumped out of his skin when someone said, "I hope you can at least entertain me, kid."

He looked around frantically saw three men regarding him with cruel grins, but the voice he heard clearly came from a woman. He looked up and saw a fair-skinned woman wearing a mask reminiscent of a nevermore and had long, almost unruly black hair sitting on a branch above him. He didn't have a chance to question her before the three on the ground charged him with sword, axe, and trident. He tried to move out of the trident's path but he was too slow and it pinned his duster to the tree behind him. Distracted, he barely managed to activate his aura to take the strikes of the sword and axe.

He gasped out a breath as they reared back for more strikes. He struggled to pull out the trident for a moment but then stopped abruptly. The thugs swung again but he grabbed the handle of the axe and parried the sword. His eyes were blood red and he wrapped his legs around the trident in a figure four and snapped it in half. He laughed sadistically and flew at the trident user as he stumbled forward and easily slipped behind him and snapped his neck, duster still impaled in the tree. He extended his wings as he let the corpse hit the ground and black flames that couldn't be contained dripped to the ground, scorching it.

The woman in the tree cocked her head at the new development, taking off her mask to watch with renewed interest.

"BASTARD!" the remaining thugs both roared as they charged him to avenge their fallen friend. He laughed mockingly as he let both weapons connect with his chest and smacked away the axe user with a wing. He screamed in agony and terror as the flames slowly covered his entire body. Meanwhile, his partner's arms were caught and black wings wrapped around him.

"Burn." he whispered manically.

Black flames spun around them as the swordsman began to scream. From the outside all that could be seen was a spinning ball of blake flames, but on the inside Raven was watching with a wolfish grin as flames licked at the features of the screaming man he had trapped until nothing but a smoldering ashes remained. The flames subsided and he looked up at the woman in the tree, giving her a toothy smile that said, "You're next." He flapped his wings at her, black flames rushing towards her like a deadly mist that shielded him from the irksome smirk that she had.

He tossed the tanto at the position he thought she would move to and laughed, long and unhinged, his victory already secured until something hard his his temple and the world went black.

* * *

He awoke with a start and frantically checked his surroundings, relief pervading as he saw the roof beneath him and stars above. Curiously, the moon that night looked identical to when he'd first met Yang and Ruby. The memory brought a smile to his face but recent events easily took it away. The wind blew across the roof but he was too distracted to notice it. Du Adain was back, that he knew for certain, and there was only one sure fire way to make sure he never entered the world again. He stood up and walked over to the edge of the roof. _About 40 feet_ he gauged halfheartedly. He took one step forward, but before he would take the plunge he felt his scroll vibrating. Curiosity stopped him and he took it out to see the screen. _Ruby?_

He waited for the 6th 'ring' then answered it. "You've reached Raven Corvus, leave your message in 3, 2, 1…" to his disbelief, she bought it, but she sounded nervous.

"Um...Hi Raven, it's Ruby...um...I have your hand, you know, if you want it back….Yang really wants to talk to-" It sounded like there was a scuffle on her side, and a new voice butted in.

"...I think you owe us all some answers." Weiss stated matter-of-factly, her demanding tone was gone and hints of fear had edged into her voice, whether she knew it or not. "We'll be waiting in our dorm, come unarmed." and the line went dead.

He looked back at the ground. It would be so easy to put the whole of the matter to rest for good, but what then? He didn't doubt that the world would be better off without his rage, his anger, but he stopped caring about the world a long time ago. In the end he could turn away from everything: Ozpin, the grimm woman Salem, hell even Raven herself, but the very essence of his soul wouldn't let **her** suffer any more than he could help. "...Fuck…" he said at last.

* * *

"We should make port by dawn." he said to the woman he knew was behind him.

"You know what happens if anyone finds out I was here." she threatened. He turned around to face her. He was tall, about as tall as Ozpin was and had broad shoulders. The strap of his eyepatch crossed under his silver left eye and vanished under his dark gray hair. He wore a thick leather duster that spoke of countless voyages around Atlas, and sheathed on his hip was a well maintained cutlass.

The dark bridge lit up as the blade of a kama made of blue fire rested against her throat. "You would do well to remember who you are threatening, Raven Branwen." Wings had emerged from the confines of his duster and they burned blue. "You're the one who wanted to surprise your toy instead of just portaling."

"...Fuck off, Flynt."

* * *

Raven glided down from the tower to RWBY's dorm window. It was locked. With a sigh he hopped over to his and went in. He took off the remnants of his prosthetic and examined it under the light. The damage was catastrophic; wires were black crisps, steel plates were punctured and energy transmitters smashed to bits. He sighed and made his way out towards RWBY's dorm. "...going for a jog."somebody said from JNPR's door. He paid it no mind and knocked on the door. The door behind him opened suddenly and Pyrrha walked out looking backwards and walked into him. His body turned instinctively and swept her off her feet. She reacted in kind by tackling him to the ground and trapping him in a pelvic leg lock.

"You're going to get me killed, Pyrrha." he remarked dryly. She looked at the situation they were in and her face started to resemble her hair: her legs were entangled with his, her hips were pushing down on his leg, and she had her arms on either side of him as she looked down at him.

"Sorry!" she exclaimed a little louder than she should have. She scrambled to her feet then offered him her left hand. He stared her dead in the eye and didn't say a thing. Realization hit her like an arrow to the chest. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" she apologized behind her hands.

He sighed and started to stand. He'd only gotten to one knee when RWBY's door opened. _Oh for fuck's sake._

* * *

"So do you think he'll show up?" Weiss asked after she hung up the scroll. Her hands were shaking a little bit. She made them into fists to calm down.

"I don't know." Blake answered. She looked nervous, something that Weiss hadn't seen from her before. "What do we do if he does?" Weiss didn't have an answer. She looked over at Ruby, who was watching Yang a little worried. She was staring at the door aimlessly. They stayed like that for a while, all clutching their weapons as they waited. Eventually a single knock sounded from the door and Yang sprung to life, oppened the door and found Raven on one knee looking up at Pyrrha, who had her face hidden behind her hands.

"Yang, I can explai-" Raven started but Yang was having none of it. Without a word she punched him as hard as she could on the chin, knocking him out cold.

"I think I'll just go for my jog now." Pyrrha said nervously. Yang was glaring at her and dragged him into the room after she left.

* * *

Raven awoke tied to a chair with a bag over his head. _Too many spy movies,_ he deduced quickly. His bonds were tight at least, but he suspected that they'd simply put all of their pillowcases over his head.

"What are you?" a muffled voice asked. To his surprise he didn't actually recognize the voice but he had suspicions that a voice changer was involved.

"Do the wings not give it away?" he asked dryly, "I'm clearly an angel." Someone or something hit him hard in the abdomen, to fast for him to put up any aura. He coughed as he tried to reel in a breath but even the modest light he had he could see blood. "Okay, fine. Can you repeat the question." _Weiss,_ he said between gritted teeth, refraining from actually naming his interrogator.

"Who are you?"

"Raven." he answered. He had his aura up now anticipating a sucker punch.

"Why are you in Beacon?" a different voice asked.

"Yang."

"...Is that all?" the second voice asked.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time, still did till earlier today." He answered honestly. They were silent for a little bit as they discussed things to quiet for him to hear.

"Well, where are you from?" a third voice asked, he didn't even have to guess who this was.

"Mythhorn."

"Mythhorn?" the same voice asked.

"Mythhorn was a small manufacturing town in Atlas." the first voice, probably Weiss but he couldn't care less anymore, answered uneasily. She paused for a moment as if to remember something then continued, "But it was destroyed by Grimm years ago, I thought that there were no survivors."

"Yeah, something like that." he answered dispassionately.

"Why did you try to kill Yang." the first voice demanded, ripping off his hood revealing team RWBY and that his hood was in fact pillowcases.

 _And we finally get to the crux of it,_ he thought. "I didn't, not really." he tried to explain. "There's...something...inside me, something more dangerous than any Grimm you've ever heard of." He could practically feel Weiss roll her eyes in utter disbelief, but his eyes locked with Blake's for a moment, long enough for him to see some kind of understanding, enough to embolden him forward. "When we were all sparing, yes _sparing_ ," he reiterated after Weiss scoffed, "'It' took control. The last thing I want to do is hurt," he looked at Weiss, "or kill any of you."

"Then why don't you kill yourself."

"Weiss…" Ruby said with a shocked gasp.

"No Ruby if he meant everything that he said then that's what he'd do." Weiss snapped.

"Don't get me wrong, I was going to." he answered.

"Why didn't you?" Blake asked curiously.

He looked at Yang sadly and asked, "Do you three mind leaving us alone for a minute?"

They weren't about to give his request any thought but Yang spoke up and said, "It's okay guys, I'll be fine."

As soon as they were alone he burned off his bindings with the tips of his wings and stood up. "This isn't how I wanted things to turn out Yang." he said, turning to face her. She was looking down with her arms crossed. He went to put a hand on her shoulder, but stopped when she flinched. "I'm sorry." he said sadly. He turned and walked towards the window and opened it. "With any luck you'll never have to think of me again." He jumped out of the window, but was abruptly pulled back in.

"Please don't leave." she said quietly. She sounded vulnerable, like she was reliving some kind of past trauma, but he was still pulling towards the window, prompting her to ask, "Why?"

"Why what?" he asked the distraught blonde. "Why the facade? Why the mistrust? Why every time I let someone in **they always get hurt?** " he got louder and angrier with every question and his left eye was turning red. " **I've had enough of this 'thing' ruining everything that I work for, that I care about.** " his left eye was visibly red now and the corresponding wing was losing definition as black flames started to build and she let go of him. " **I'M DONE losing** everyone I care about." he finished quietly, his entire demeanor changing as he hugged himself fingers drawing blood from his left arm. "I'm tired of hurting people."

She pulled him firmly out of the window and held him tightly. "If we work together then we'll find a better answer." she whispered to him. He looked up and saw the infectious hope that her family seemed to possess, the kind of hope that can move mountains.

"You know what might happen if I stay." he said warily.

"We'll get through it, together." she said with a beaming smile.


	15. Chapter 15

"The match between Raven Corvus and Team CRDL begins...NOW!" Glynda announced as all of the lights, save for those focused on the stage, turned off. Raven was unarmed and had his hand comfortably in his trench coat pocket. Team CRDL charged him.

 _Okay, mace, daggers, a sword and… a halberd?_ he thought, _Should be fun._ Cardin attacked first with a heavy overhand strike with his mace that Raven sidestepped and promptly punched him in the jaw, knocking him away, and ducked under a lunge from Sky's halberd. He elbowed Sky's stomach, knocking him away, before Russell and Dove attacked together with daggers and sword in perfect unison, forcing him back as he evaded their slashes. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cardin winding up to hit his back so he jumped over it and let Russell and Dove share the hit. "What's the matter Cardin, can't hit a moving target?" Raven mocked, trying to goad him into doing something stupid. It paid off when Cardin let loose a vicious battle cry and swung his mace up behind his head, hitting Sky on the top of his head and knocking him out, and with the downswing Raven sidestepped it again but this time he guided the mace with his hand so that its new target was it's wielders crotch, who tensed up, and then passed out. Raven looked back and forth at Dove and Russell, "So which one of you is next?" he taunted as he picked up Cardin's mace.

"We forfeit." they said together. "Cowards." Raven muttered as he dropped the mace. The lights were turned back on and Glynda stepped onto the stage amidst thunderous applause. "Students, as you can see, Raven won with relative ease because Team CRDL lacked cohesion." she said after the room fell back into silence, "Had they been able to work together, then they may have been able to beat their opponent. Class dismissed."

Raven walked out of the class hurriedly as he felt the desire to crush the arrogant bastards further. He rounded the corner of the outside of the building quickly and, making sure he was alone, slumped against the wall and covered his left eye with his hand. He had visions of eviscerating the team one by one with their own weapons; Sky impaled into the ground, Dove and Russell both cut to pieces and breaking every bone in Cardin's body before crushing his head like a walnut.

"Dammit." he whispered under his breath before he got back to his feet. He checked the time on his scroll. _About 10 minutes,_ he noted as he calmed down, _better get a move on._

He made his way to the training building he'd gotten well acquainted with and met up with team EMNT. "Sit down." Magnolia said motioning to a table near the entrance. He sat on the table and Topaz rolled over on a chair.

"I can't make any promises that you'll survive this." she warned him.

"I can't believe you agreed to this." he remarked to the team around him.

Edward and Nate scoffed at that while Magnolia rolled her eyes at them. "Just lay down, and try not to move too much, we're going to be here for a while."

"And we're done." Topaz declared wearily. She had been working straight through the past two days, only stopping to take two four hour breaks, but she was very satisfied with her work. The finished product was a masterpiece: A serpentine dragon with golden scales coiling around Raven's body emitting light against a dark sky filled by an aurora borealis, fully utilizing every drop of Dust infused ink provided. She also put purple rings around his wrist and ankles. "It was a beautiful design," she told him as he stood up, "what inspired you to make it?" They were alone save for the empty cups of coffee behind her, a fact that didn't go unnoticed by him.

"My master's little light dragon." he started to explain but stopped himself mid-sentence. Topaz was, as far as he knew, a good person, if a distinctly average fighter. Saying any more would be paramount to signing off on a death sentence. "Sorry, my master had a tattoo like this and it brings back some pleasant memories." A pretty weak lie, but then again did it really matter? He didn't think so.

"Uh huh." she said, clearly convinced. She was staring at him inquisitively, like he was a puzzle that needed solving. Or she was admiring her own work. Yeah, that was probably it. Gods he was tired. "I'm not sure why more people don't get Dust tattoos, I mean, it went pretty good with you."

He had to agree there, even at the worst of it the pain was negligible, but that could just be him. Everyone was ever so unique. Then a thought popped into his head. "You may want to stand back." he warned her as he spread his wings. He remembered hearing that using Dust could affect the properties of your semblance and had always kinda wanted to try it out. Come to think of it, that was his reasoning for getting the Dust ink anyway. He 'was' tired so it wasn't too surprising that that detail escaped him. He decided to start with ice, and activated his semblance. His wings turned white as usual but instead of flames a light fog cascaded down from his feathers. The details were left unnoticed by him, though, because an unnatural chill ran through his entire being, making him gasp and and release his control over the Dust, the fog returning to flames before he ended his semblance altogether. "Fuck." he gasped. He could see his breath.

Topaz rushed over to him and put a hand on his cheek. It was nice and warm, but fleeting. "You're freezing!" she remarked hurriedly. She grabbed his jacket and threw it over him.

"I think I know why people don't do this now." he said weakly. He almost passed out but caught himself as he started to fall forward.

It sounded like Topaz was trying to say something but he could only hear snippets of panic. "W…ed t…ou to…inf…"

"Tha sounds gooood." he agreed. He tried to walk with her but it was hard to walk when he couldn't feel the ground with his feet.

He lost track of time and was sure that he passed out a few time but together they managed to make it to their destination. Along the way he was sure that he saw Raven. A few times she looked angry, and others she looked very…inviting, but mostly she looked disappointed, until finally she helped them. "No Ray, I'm okay I swear." He muttered incoherently. He thought that they said something back but he was beyond hearing now. He was very tired after all.


	16. Chapter 16: A Lemon?

**A/N: Just a warning guys, this chapter contains a lemon. If you're not into that then you've been warned.**

* * *

 _That was a stupid thing to do_ , Raven thought to himself He wasn't sure how long it had been since he'd passed out and to be honest some of the details regarding the events were hazy for him. He could still feel the remnants of the unnatural chill from the Dust, but he could also feel a bed beneath himself and a weight of some kind wrapped over his body exuded a comforting heat. All in all he was pretty comfortable, if a little bored. He considered where he might currently be in an effort to occupy his thoughts. He briefly considered the possibility that he was in the infirmary, it was the logical destination but the bed felt too familiar and comfortable for that conclusion to hold any weight, not to mention the fact that Raven-

His thoughts stopped dead in their tracks at the memory. He was sure at the time that it was her but now he wasn't so sure. He was fairly certain that she wouldn't intervene even if he was dying, that chance came and went long ago, and she looked younger than he remembered almost like…

His eyes shot open only to be greeted by blackness. He tried to speak but found his mouth dry and throat stiff. _At least I'm not dead_ , he mused cynically. He felt the weight on him shift slightly.

"Raven?" The voice was unmistakable, like a warm breeze on a cool day. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out but a dry gasp. She was off of him in an instant and a glass of something was pressed against his mouth. He drank it greedily and erupted into a coughing fit after he finished. He felt hands on his face tugging at something and suddenly light flooded his vision as whatever was obstructing his vision was removed and he saw Yang sitting over him in only her underclothes with relied and fear in equal amounts on her face.

"Yang?" he asked back, his voice wasn't failing him now, he'd be sure of it, "Why are...Where..?"

"Do you remember what happened?" she asked him. She was biting her lower lip, almost as if she was nervous about something.

He closed his eyes and remembered almost every detail with chilling clarity. "Something reckless and stupid." he answered. Opening his silver eyes he got lost in her lilac ones. "What happened after…" his asked, voice hoarse.

She looked relieved to hear him speak. "We brought you to your dorm after a short argument with that bi-" she took a deep breath, "we brought you here almost 2 days ago and I've been here to make sure you don't freeze." she finished quickly. She looked down at him and blushed a little bit.

Raven followed her gaze and raised an eyebrow. "Did you…" She Yang turned an even brighter shade of red. _Ahh._ Raven realized all at once just how close they were and was reminded just how beautiful Yang really was. He sat up and snaked his hand around her waist to hold her in place when she tried to back away.

Lemon Warning

"What are-" she tried to ask but he seized her lips with his own eliciting a yearning moan from the young huntress. He broke off suddenly, both of them breathing heavily as he did. "Why did you stop?" she demanded yearningly.

He grinned openly. "You're cute when you're flustered." He snaked his arm further up and unhooked her brassier. Yang looked down at him a little surprised by his boldness, but cracked a lust filled smile and threw the restrictive orange garment away then straddled him. She gasped suddenly as he captured her lips again and nibbled on her lower lip. He felt her hands flutter over his bare skin, lightly at first but growing bolder by the moment.

Gods she was perfect, her lips, her body, her **fire** , but her hands never strayed too far below his midriff, and he didn't have to think too hard to figure out why. He broke away from her lips again, a thin string of saliva connecting them for a moment, and saw the lust, the desire burning in her eyes and the anxiety burning on her cheeks as her hand lightly brushed his member. He was glad that she was inexperienced, it meant that he could be in control for once. "Gods you're perfect." he whispered passionately as he trailed kisses from the curve of her jaw, slowly down her neck, eliciting small gasps as he made his way down to her collarbone, maring her perfect skin with a line of hickies. Presented with her perfect breasts he made an internal vow to make this a day she'd never forget.

He flipped them over, placing her on her back with her long blonde hair spread out around her like a pair of wings. _Like a goddess_ , he thought in awe. He went to work immediately on her breasts, attacking her stiff left nipple with his mouth while he used his hand to gently cup and squeeze her right one. He kept his mouth open, swirling his tongue around the nipple before sucking it, repeating this in intervals. With two fingers in the middle and one on either side with the thumb working as a support, he caressed her other breast, tweaking the nipple in time with his lips, keeping both of her glorious mounds in motion at the same time. He wished that he had two arms but hearing her practically melt under his ministrations brought him back to focus. He lightly dragged his wings along her thighs and he switched his mouth over to her other breast, letting his tongue circle the erect nipple before sucking on it fiercely. With his hand now free he went lower, sliding it over her hips and thighs then moving it around to feel between her legs, rubbing the outside of he very wet covered core.

"OH!" she gasped as she came, catching him a little off-guard. She gasped disappointedly as he detached himself from her sensitive breast. He winked at her and with a wolfish grin he moved lower, and pulled off her drenched panties with his teeth, leaving her fully bare before him. She instinctively closed her legs to him, still nervous about the size of his member despite already climaxing once. _Would it fit?_ She didn't know. She closed her eyes in anticipation, hoping that he'd be-

What was that? She felt something soft brushing up her thighs and she looked down in time to see Raven extend his tongue to-

A surprised moan darted past her lips. Her back arched and she found it near impossible to be still. Had his wings not been strong enough she was sure that her legs would have clamped together in surprise. But all she could do was ride out the sudden tingles of pleasure as his tongue gently traced her delicate and sensitive flesh, a fresh moan slipping out as his index and middle fingers pulled back her outer layers to lap away just a little deeper.

She was beginning to lose control of herself. She's read about this kind of stimulation in a book she'd pilfered from Blake, much to the blushing Belladonna's chagrin, but nothing could have prepared her for the real thing. With each brush of his curiously expert tongue she felt a little bit of herself slip away. The pleasure was different than when she was by herself. That was frantic and she had to worry about being caught. This, though, felt deliberate. It held no pattern that she could feel, was gloriously relentless, and was many, many times more addicting. How such small brushes could move her so powerfully was confusing, but any rational thinking was gone as he continued.

Then he slid up a little further, suddenly dragging his tongue up and down her clit, she became a gasping mess and came again. Her back arched higher, harder, pushing her opening harder against his lips and she barely registered that he pushed back just as hard. He was ready for her orgasm and traced his tongue over her fleshy bud and milked it for everything it was worth, licking it, sucking it, dragging on the spasms of her muscles until she was left panting. _Amazing,_ she thought giddily, _and he hasn't even-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by a sudden shift on the bed. She looked up and saw Raven looking down at her, pure, predatory lust in his eyes as her juices dripped from his lips. She reached up and brought him down to her, their tongues exploring each other's mouths. She felt an odd taste, sweet and just a little sour. She wrapped her long, smooth legs around his waist and twisted right to switch their positions again. He'd been in control the entire time, now it was her turn. She placed her hands on his chest and lifted herself off of him.

When he looked up at her she felt the flame in her burn even hotter, as hot as the cock pressing against her stomach. A small part of her was worried that he wouldn't fit. The rest of her didn't care. She lifted herself higher off of him and used her hand to place his tip against her entrance. She took a deep breath and speared herself on him, taking almost all of him at once. Her back arched as she cried out in pleasure and pain. She loved the intoxicating feeling of him stretching her to her limit, but she needed more. She lifted herself up until only his head was inside her then slammed herself back down, taking him to the hilt and prodding her womb. "More…" she moaned loudly. She felt him start to thrust into her in time with her as she wildly rode him, mouth open and tongue out as her body was wracked by pleasure.

She felt him grab her onto her hip and he started thrusting into her with reckless abandon, and she loved it. She could feel her release coming again. Light dotted her vision and she slumped forward, her body grinding against him, out of her control. With a loud moan she felt herself squeeze violently around him again, and again, every inch of his member caressed and loved by her folds. Every gasp for breath was filled with cries and moans as she felt his hand on her hip stiffen. Looking down she saw him practically biting through his bottom lip. As the moment passed and she could actually think again, she realized that he was holding back his own release. She smirked devilishly as she got off of him, cooing as his member was freed from it's meaty prison. She slinked back between his legs and looked at his glorious organ, rock hard and twitching. She put a hand around it's base and his whole body went stiff.

"Please…" he begged weakly. She smiled innocently at him, almost like she didn't know what he was asking for, but faster than he could follow she sandwiched his twitching member between her sweat sheened breasts and shoved the rest of it in her mouth and sucked as hard as she could. "Fuck!" he yelled as he bucked his hips, his release hitting him like a bolt of lightning. His cock throbbed wildly between her breasts as she continued to suck on his pulsing tip. Spurt after spurt of salty cum exploded from him but she swallowed every drop. She released him shortly after he finished and crawled her way on top of him.

"That was fun." she said with a contented sigh. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. "Thank you for holding it back."

He sighed contently as they drifted off to sleep. "Anything for you Yang, anything for you."


	17. Chapter 17

"Remind me why we're doing this again." Raven asked Edward. They were standing in a jewelry shop looking at, you guessed, jewelry. "You can be very dense sometimes, you now that?" Edward said as he picked up a gold bracelet with a ruby inlay, "Do you think she'll like this?" "You've been dating for less than a month, don't you think you're coming on a bit strong?" he answered back, "Why don't you try something, I don't know, less imposing?" "Yeah, you're probably right." Edward admitted, "But you on the other hand have been with Yang for almost half a year now, so you have no excuse not to get her something." "I never said you shouldn't get her something, just something less imposing." Raven retorted, "I would suggest a red rose and something like 'a Rose by any other name', it would amuse me to no end."

"Oh ha ha." Edward said in mock amusement, "But that's not a bad idea, might even make her laugh." Raven picked up a silver pendant with a deep purple gem and said, "Yang'll laugh when she hears it. Excuse me, how much for this pendant?" "Because you're sooo funny." Edward joked as the elderly shopkeeper appeared at the counter in front of them. "1,200 lien." he told them. Edward whistled as Raven handed over the money and put the pendant in it's accompanying box. He thanked the shopkeeper for his business, looked over at Edward and, without missing a beat, said, "Screw you, I'm hilarious." then walked out into the street. "Just remember that the doors open at 7:15 tomorrow night!" Edward called after him. "How could I forget?" he mumbled, "Stupid, fucking holiday…"

* * *

"I'll take it." Raven said as he pulled out several thousand lien from his jacket and handed it over to the elderly shopkeeper. "Wait, weren't you just working at Metal Spectrum?" he asked as the old man handed him the key. "Yes," the old shopkeeper answered, "I actually own several businesses in Vale." Raven recoiled slightly. "If that's true, then why do you even work? Surely you make enough money that you don't need to work." The old man shrugged, "I like talking to people and working gives me something to do with my time instead of sitting in my mansion all the time." he explained. "You have a mansion?" The old man simply grinned at Raven's question. "Damn…" Raven whispered, "Anyway, I guess I'll see you again sometime." The two shook hands and Raven pushed his new toy out of Easy Riders and put on his aviators. He had ordered a custom black motorcycle designed for speed and efficiency. _Time to get to work._ But then he had a thought. "You wouldn't happen to sell arms, would you?"

* * *

He rode up to Junior's Club and parked his bike in front of the door. It turned out that the old man did indeed sell arms, only basic models but that was more than enough for him. The fit was perfect and it didn't take long for him to get used to the new weight. It was around 7pm and the street was empty. He walked into the club and was immediately surrounded by Junior and his men. "You have a lot of nerve to show your face around here after what you did." Junior threatened to Raven's annoyance.

"As I recall, I paid for my drinks before I left and you were the one that ruined the place."

Junior crossed his arms. "You punched Melanie through a pillar."

"And I stopped the blonde from killing you." Raven added on, choosing not to tell him Yang's name, "Which means you owe me one." Now it was Junior who looked annoyed.

"Fine." he said. He started walking to the bar and gestured for Raven to follow. "What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"I need to talk to Torchwick." Raven answered causing Junior to stop in his tracks.

"What do you want wit- no, it doesn't matter, I have no idea where he is."

"And why should I believe you?" Raven asked.

"I haven't seen the man since you and blondie tore up the place." Junior explained, "Now unless you want something else get out of my club."

 _So much for easy answers_ , Raven thought as he began walking out.

Two of Junior's men ran back inside shouting, "Hurry close the door!" and, "She's coming!" as they slammed the door shut and leaned against it.

"What are you idiots doing!?" Junior demanded.

"Junior she's come back!" was all that they coherently said before an explosion opened the door.

In stepped Yang wearing a collared cream top over a black shirt, thigh-high stockings and black boots. "Guess who's back!" she exclaimed as she posed in mock ignorance with a grin on her face and her eyes closed. Immediately a dozen men pulled guns on her, but she wasn't fazed in the slightest.

"Yeah, so could you define "friend" for me?" Neptune, a blue haired student from Haven, asked as he peeked out from behind Yang.

Raven wondered how they didn't see him as he watched Junior push through his goons. "Stop, stop! Nobody shoot." he ordered. He straightened his tie and tried to speak as civilly as possible, "Blondie, you're here! ...Why?"

"You still owe me a drink." she stated as she grabbed him by the arm and started to drag him to the bar.

"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, what a woman…" Neptune almost drooled.

"That's strike two Blueberry." Raven warned, turning the guys complexion a pale white, "I would suggest that you refrain from trying again."

One of Junior's walked towards him as Neptune nervously ran after Yang. "Why do you call him Blueberry?" the grunt asked.

Raven looked him dead in the eye and said, "I don't like blueberries." before walking back to the exit, fully committed to leaving Junior to his fate.

He got outside and saw a yellow version of his bike next to his and laughed to himself. "What are the odds…" He got on his bike and was about to take off when Yang quickly ran out of the club towards him. She didn't look happy. _The fuck did I do?,_ he wondered before she started asking the obvious questions.

"What are you doing here? And what's your problem with Neptune?"

 _Wait, what?_

Fortunately for him her scroll powered up and Blake started to speak through it, "Everyone! If you can hear me, we need back-" until she was interrupted by Sun who screamed, "HEEEELLLLP! Big robot! And it's big! Really big!" Yang got on her bike and put on her helmet while Sun continued, "That Torchwick guy is in it! But not, like, it didn't eat him; he's, like, controlling it or something!" Neptune climbed behind Yang and hung onto the bikes sides.

"Where are you guys?" Yang asked, and on cue they appeared running on the street behind them with an Atlesian Paladin-290 with the White Fang emblem on it hot on their trail.

Raven snapped and sped after them without a word. His wings erupted from underneath his jacket and they erupted into ebon flames. They quickly got to the highway, Blake and Sun somehow managed to stay in front of the metal behemoth. Raven his right hand in his jacket pocket and alternated when he felt the gauntlet close around it. With a flick of his arm the hidden blade made its presence known and he whet the blade on the asphalt. Torchwick used the machine to knock cars onto their sides in a vain effort to stop his prey and his pursuers. Lightning rounds whizzed past Raven and struck the machine before Neptune impaled it with his trident. The mech started to spin and buck, trying to throw him off while still moving at a breakneck pace.

Sun smashed his palms together, glowing gold as he activated his semblance, creating two glowing outlines of himself that leapt off of the truck he was standing on and traversed over the tops of vehicles to collide into the Paladin's front, exploding on contact. Sun leapt forward with his staff held high, but Roman finally turned enough to send Neptune flying off and knocked him into his leader, sending both of them off the highway.

Weiss appeared in the middle of the highway and froze its surface, making the mech slip and spill off of the highway and down to the docks below it. Raven skidded to a halt along the highway's curb before dive-bombing the mech with a vicious battle cry and impaling it's cockpit, only barely missing Roman. He tore his blade back out and was about to plunge it into the man's chest but he was sent flying off by a quick spin of the machine and a kick delivered by a short girl with bizarre pink and brown hair. "Neo….." he growled as he pulled his blade back into the gauntlet. Neo simply tilted her head slightly and smirked at him with her umbrella opened over her shoulder. He charged her with a wild series of lefts and rights that she effortlessly danced between before kicking him in the face, despite being at least a foot shorter than he was. This only served to push him further off the edge as he once more pushed out his blade. He launched jab after jab with Talon, every one a miss but with every miss came a strike faster than the last before he flapped his wings at her, sending a wave of fire that she casually blocked with her umbrella. He grabbed the open edge of it and pulled her into a fiery right hook, sending her flying into the remains of Roman's mech. Conveniently she managed to block a shell from Yang's gauntlet with her umbrella after she gracefully flipped over the the empty machine and in front of Roman.

Ladies, gentleman, Ice Queen…" he said to the victors earning a disapproving "Hey!" from Weiss, "Always a pleasure! Neo, if you would…" Neo curtsied them all with a bow, but Yang and Raven charged at her with fists raised to strike down the pair, only to break a mirror-like image as they escaped in a Bullhead.

"Dammit." Raven cursed as the rest of team RWBY ran to their side.

"So I guess he got a new henchman…" Yang observed before Weiss chimed in.

"Yeah, I guess she really made our plans... fall apart!" Ruby giggled, Blake started walking away and Yang shook her head in disapproval.

"No. Just... no." Her disapproval upset Weiss who exclaimed, "What- But, you do it!"

"Hers are funny." Raven stated, having finally calmed down.

"Well at least I'm trying!" she pouted as she walked away with her team. Yang looked back at him with a little concern about his rage but he was already gone, he chose to simply fly back to the highway that his bike was on and uneasily rode back to Beacon.

* * *

Raven arrived at the school with the moon already hanging high in the sky and he was walking towards the dorms when a raven flew past him towards the training room that had become his second home. "Is that…" he asked himself before heading towards it. On one hand it could just a random bird and he'd have wasted a few minutes, but on the other hand not checking could have fatal repercussions.

"You're being reckless Du Adain." Raven observed as she leaned against the wall. She was wearing her trademark gear and still had her nevermore mask on only, it looked corroded, like it was ripped off of a Grimm's face as it was dissipating.

"Maybe." he admitted as he stopped a few feet in front of her. He crossed his arms and with a hint of anger asked, "When did she leave?" Raven gave no indication that she heard him but that was hardly something new from her.

After several seconds of tense silence she answered, "As soon as she discovered you were gone." She pushed herself off the wall and moved towards him. He subconsciously clenched his fists as she did so but in a flash she grabbed his throat and kicked out his legs, forcing him to his knees as she took off her mask and stared him dead in the eye. "Why have you abandoned our people?" she demanded with open malice.

He grabbed her wrist and tried to pull it off but to no avail, until his anger started to bubble and matched her gaze with an equally crimson eye. He got back to his feet as he pushed himself free. "I didn't abandon anyone." he said angrily his eyes returned to their regular silver, "I've just been a little sidetracked making sure that She doesn't get the Fall Maiden. Seemed like something that would make our lives a bit easier in the long run."

The tension around them continued to grow as she silently pondered his answer. After what felt like an eternity to Raven, she pulled out a vial of red Dust and tossed it to him saying, "You have two days." She put her mask back on and transformed back into a raven and flew off. Raven kept the vial in his hand as he walked silently to the dorms. He had one hell of a day ahead of him.

The next night

Raven stood in front of his bathroom mirror. He was wearing an ebon suit under which he also wore a black vest and an equally black shirt. He looked at the tie in his hands and tossed it over his shoulder in resignation. He was clean shaven and looked much more his age than usual. He looked down at his watch. He had about 10 minutes until he had to leave, but he found that it never hurt to he early. He opened his door and was assaulted by a cacophony of shitty guitar and discordant singing. _Oh gods,_ he thought. He stepped through the door and saw Jaime looking at team RWBY's door with a shocked expression. He looked down dejectedly and started to walk sadly down the hall.

"Hey Jaune, wait up!" Edward called from the end of the hallway as he ran up to the boy.

Jaune looked back and saw Edward rushing up to him and sorrowfully said, "Oh, hey Edward, you look good tonight."

Edward caught up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I wish I could say the same for you, what's wrong?"

"I can't get Weiss to go out with me." he explained miserably. "I've tried everything I can think of; everything from asking to serenading, and now I don't know what to do."

"Why not ask Pyrrha?" Raven suggested as he walked over to them, "Surely you don't intend to chase the ribbon forever."

"What do you mean 'ribbon'?! Weiss is smart, and graceful, and talented- I mean have you heard her sing?" Jaune demanded angrily before visually deflating under Raven's gaze. "I just wish she'd take me seriously, y'know? I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up."

Raven looked up at the ceiling and whispered, "You have got to be kidding me." He looked back down at Jaune, "I've been called dense before but you sir take the cake." Jaune looked at him confused so he continued, "First you describe Pyrrha perfectly, though I can't say I've ever heard her sing, and she feels the same way about you as you do about Weiss, maybe more so, so stop chasing a ribbon and take your place with silver."

"I think the expression is gold, Raven." Edward chimed in but Raven shook his head.

"No, gold is Yang." At that moment team RWBY's door opened behind them and the aforementioned team walked out, oddly enough in their team's order. Ruby stumbled out wearing a short ebony dress with matching heels that she couldn't really walk in, making Edward's ears perk up. Weiss walked out wearing a sleek silver dress and white heels that didn't impair her in the slightest. Jaune struggled to catch a glimpse of her between Edward and Raven as Blake came out. She was wearing an asymmetrical purple dress with a slit up the right side. Raven's jaw dropped when Yang exited in a golden silk dress with two slits up along her legs with a yellow sash around her waist.

Raven physically had to close his mouth with his hand to regain something resembling composure. _I don't deserve this,_ he admitted to himself as she sauntered towards him. He looked again and saw that she was wearing the pendant that he'd given her earlier that day until she gently grabbed his chin and pulled his gaze to match her own.

"My eyes are up here Raven…" she teased before stealing a kiss. Edward gently pushed past them towards Ruby, who was watch her sister with a look somewhere between uncomfortable and joy. Blake had vanished during the commotion and Weiss took one look at Jaune and started walking the other way, once more crushing the guy.

Raven and Yang both spotted the rose he had clasped behind his back. "It's better now that it's happening naturally, isn't it?" he whispered to her as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I uh, got this for you…" Edward said nervously as he revealed the rose and the note attached to the stem. "A Rose, by any other name, is just as sweet." she read aloud and Yang had failed to suppress an aww. _He actually did it,_ Raven thought as Ruby started to blush.

"We should umm, probably get going."

30 minutes later

The four of them walked towards the dining hall. Raven had his right arm around Yang's waist and she had her "I'm sorry it took us all so long to get here." Ruby apologized.

"Don't worry about it Ruby." Edward said peacefully while she still clung to his arm for balance, "You're doing better than I would be."

"I still can't believe that they actually decided to do this." Raven said in slight awe as he looked at the dining hall. The rows of tables had been replaced by what looked like hundreds of small round tables equipped for two.

"At least they set up enough for everyone from the other schools." Yang piped in. They looked ahead and saw Blake sitting with Sun and Ren with Nora, and they looked like they were really hitting it off. Raven saw Yang's brow furrow slightly and followed her gaze to see Weiss and Pyrrha sitting alone watching everyone sadly.

Raven leaned closer to Yang and quietly asked, "Where's Blueberry?" as Jaune walked over to Pyrrha and asked if he could sit with her. It looked like she said yes very enthusiastically because all of her features seemed to lighten, like a great weight was lifted from her shoulders.

"He broke it off with Weiss an hour ago." Yang answered back with a mixture of rage and disapproval as she practically dragged him to a table, garnering a laugh from Ruby and Edward who followed suit on the other side of the hall.

A diminutive Atlas soldier dressed as a waitress put down a pair wine glasses filled with water and left to deliver more to other tables. "That was sudden." Raven remarked as he took a sip from one of them.

"So who was she?" Yang asked him as directly as he should have expected, but he choked on his water anyway.

"Neo Politan, illusionist, expert fighter, mute, and potentially a psychopath." he answered after he stopped coughing.

"And how do you know her?" she asked, not letting up for a second.

"Nothing like what you're thinking." he said impassionately, "She's just of the mindset that if she can't have me then no one can." Yang's eyes started to turn slightly red with his last remark and he knew he had to remedy this as quick as he could. But should he? "Relax Yang, it's not like I harbour any feelings towards her. I am the reason she can't speak after all." This seemed to catch her completely off guard as her eyes returned to their natural lilac, so he continued without reservation. "Our teacher wouldn't allow us to stop fighting until at least one of us was bleeding and well, she's lucky I didn't accidentally cut deeper."

Yang was at a loss for words. "What kind of monster would encourage that?" she whispered.

"Your mo-" he said before cutting himself off. _What the hell am I doing?_ he thought as their waitress brought appetizers. Panic lanced through his brain as he looked at her and saw who she really was. _No._ He got up abruptly and ran towards the door without a word.

 _I need to get the Dust,_ he thought as he ran. He could practically feel his aura disappearing as his vision started to turn red. He tried wiping his eyes and his fingers came back red with blood. _WHAT THE HELL_ , his mind screamed as a shadowy figure dropped in front of him with a pair of swords drawn. "What is this?!" he demanded angrily. He was answered with silence until the figure attacked. He blocked the first few strikes with his left arm and noticed the sound of glass cracking with every connection. His realization was cut short as a thin blade erupted from his chest and he coughed blood.

"Don't wo...rryy." a pained voice struggled to say, "Yo...u'll be se..eing Bl...ond...ie ag...ain so..ooon." And then his world faded to black.

* * *

 **In the interest of saving time I put these two chapters together. New content in about two chapters guys, it's only been a year...**


	18. Chapter 18

_Is this what death is?_ Raven thought as he drifted through a black abyss, unable to move, unable to breathe. He drifted for what could have been years but there was no way to tell, nothing that he could do to make any kind of distinction in the void, until two figures appeared from the nothingness: one exuded light and the other somehow exuded shadow.

"No, though you were for a while." he heard the bright one say in a warm 'voice' without moving its lips. He had no idea what was going on but welcomed anything that took him away from the nothingness. But the question remained: what were these things?

"We are what our first creation calls Gods." the other said in a similar matter, though it's 'voice' was toneless. He thought back to the tales he heard as a child of the brother gods: the elder was the creator of life and the younger made the creatures of Grimm to destroy what the elder created but after a while they came together and created man with both light and dark, giving them free will. If these were those same brothers, what would they want with him?

"Understand that we don't normally reveal ourselves like this, even to those who pass on." the elder explained.

"We're just curious as to why he saved you." He wondered who they were talking about, who would have the capability to, in essence, bring someone back from the dead. He briefly considered Ozpin, but there was no way he would be able to…

"Yes it was him." the elder said, "His soul is immortal and tied to the mortal realm, hence he has the power of time manipulation." That came as less of a surprise than it should have to him but his line of thought was interrupted by the younger brother

"So why do you think he saved you?"

 _I think it might have to do with a woman named Salem._ he tried to explain mentally as he thought back to his second meeting with the man.

"The second…" the older brother started to say but his voice started to sound far away and Raven was bathed in white light…

* * *

Raven shook awake in the remnants of some kind of empty steel tube in a very long high ceilinged room that he recognized immediately. Looking around he saw pieces of debris smoldering on the ground, Amber, the current Fall Maiden, in her pod on life support, and James Ironwood had his pistol drawn and trained on Raven's body with a stern expression.

"That won't be necessary James." Ozpin said firmly as he exited the elevator at the far end of the room followed by Glynda, Qrow and Pyrrha. Ironwood, however, didn't lower his weapon an inch.

Raven struggled to find the strength to get to his feet as the impromptu team made their way towards him but noticed a deep blush cover Pyrrha's face as they got closer and he understood why he felt so cold. He wrapped his wings around his naked form to discover that they were white and he had a small, circular scar over his heart. He didn't have time to question the changes because a bundle of clothes hit him in the face, courtesy of Qrow.

"Seriously Jimmy, you're not helping anything." Qrow said before taking a drink from his flask. The general begrudgingly holstered his gun as Raven clothed his lower half and Ozpin's group got to his side. Pyrrha was still blushing madly when Qrow asked, "What happened kid?"

Raven started to shrug but pain stemming from his chest lanced through his body and took his breath away. He tried to numb the pain by pressing his hand into the scar and after a minute the pain lessened enough for him to speak. "Poisoned and stabbed." he answered at last. He looked at Ironwood, "She was disguised as one of yours."

"I refuse to believe tha-" Ironwood started but was quickly cut off by Ozpin.

"Now is not the time for arrogance James." he said with enough authority to silence the general, something that Raven had never seen anyone manage to do. He looked at Raven and asked, "What does this assassin look like?"

"She under 5 feet in height and has a slim build but other than that, there's nothing that her semblance can't effectively change." he explained, but regarding the new face he asked, "But what is _she_ doing down here?"

"We were expecting you to still be in a coma." Glynda said almost apologetically.

"How long was I gone?"

Pyrrha, who had yet to say anything, answered, "It's almost been 2 months since-" Raven stopped listening after she said 2 months and the pain in his chest almost seemed to explode out. He clutched his chest feebly and dropped to a knee before he blacked out.

* * *

Raven awoke on a soft bed in a room he didn't recognize with a blade at his throat. Upon further inspection he saw that it was red and that it was held by Raven. _Marvellous_ , he thought sarcastically. "If you're going to kill me get it over with otherwise…" he began but was cut off when she pushed her sword into his neck enough to draw a small trickle of blood.

She raised an eyebrow at this and he said, "Dying has a way of taking things away." She snorted derisively and sheathed her odachi.

"So why are you here then?" he asked as he rubbed his neck defensively.

"Get up." she ordered.

He was about to tell her to fuck off, and probably kill himself in the process, but a certain grizzled huntsman spoke first in a slightly raspy voice, "Just do what she says kid."

 _The hell are these two doing together?_ He wondered as he got off the bed, genuinely curious as to what they had in store for him. He was wearing the same clothes that Qrow had tossed to him before he passed out but someone had put the shirt on him while he was unconscious.

"We're going to try to help you activate your aura again." Qrow explained as he stepped beside his sister. "Normally we would just kickstart it but…" he trailed off as Raven finished for him with an annoyed tone.

"But when we tried to do it the building exploded."

He was taken aback by their explanation. "What do you mean 'exploded'?"


End file.
